RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Ultrasonographic B-lines have recently emerged as a bedside imaging tool for the differential diagnosis of acute dyspnea in the Emergency Department (ED). However, despite its simplicity, LUS has not fully penetrated emergency department. This study aimed to assess the accuracy and reproducibility of ultrasonographic B-lines performed by emergency medicine (EM) residents for the diagnosis of congestive heart failure (CHF) in patients admitted to ED for acute dyspnea. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This is a cross-sectional prospective study conducted between January 2016 and October 2017 including patients aged over 18 years admitted to ED for acute dyspnea. At admission, two consecutive bedside LUS study were performed by a pair of EM residents who received a 2-h course for recognition of sonographic B-lines to determine independently B-lines score and B-profile pattern. All participating sonographers were blinded to patients' clinical data. B-lines score ≥ 15 or a B-profile pattern was considered as suggestive of CHF. The final leading diagnosis was assessed by two expert sonographers, who were blinded to the residents' interpretations, based on clinical findings, chest X-ray, brain natriuretic peptide, cardiac and lung ultrasound testing. Accuracy and agreement of B-lines score and B-profile pattern were calculated. RESULTS: We included 700 patients with a mean age of 68 ± 12.6 years and a sex ratio (M/F) of 1.43. The diagnosis of CHF was recorded in 371 patients (53%). The diagnostic performance of B-lines score at a cut-off 15 and B-profile pattern was, respectively, 88% and 82.5% for sensitivity, 75% and 84% for specificity, 80% and 85% for positive predictive value, 84% and 81% for negative predictive value. The area under receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.86 [0.83-0.89] and 0.83 [0.80-0.86], respectively, for B-lines score and B-profile pattern. There was an excellent agreement between residents for the diagnosis of CHF using both scores (kappa = 0.81 and 0.85, respectively, for ordinal scale B-lines score and B-profile pattern). CONCLUSION: Lung ultrasound B-lines assessment has a good accuracy and an excellent reproducibility in the diagnosis of CHF in the hand of EM residents following a short training program. Trial registration Name of the registry: clinicaltrials.gov; Trial registration number: NCT03717779; Date of registration: October 24, 2018 'Retrospectively registered'; URL of trial registry record: clinicaltrials.gov.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: In acute stroke, large vessel occlusion (LVO) should be promptly identified to guide patient's transportation directly to comprehensive stroke centers (CSC) for mechanical thrombectomy (MT). In many cases, prehospital multi-parameter scores are used by trained emergency teams to identify patients with high probability of LVO. However, in several countries, the first aid organization without intervention of skilled staff precludes the on-site use of such scores. Here, we assessed the accuracy of LVO prediction using a single parameter (i.e. complete hemiplegia) obtained by bystander's telephone-based witnessing. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This observational, single-center study included consecutive patients who underwent intravenous thrombolysis at the primary stroke center and/or were directly transferred to a CSC for MT, from January 1, 2015 to March 1, 2020. We defined two groups: patients with initial hemiplegia (no movement in one arm and leg and facial palsy) and patients without initial hemiplegia, on the basis of a bystander's witnessing. RESULTS: During the study time, 874 patients were included [mean age 73 years (SD 13.8), 56.7% men], 320 with initial hemiplegia and 554 without. The specificity of the hemiplegia criterion to predict LVO was 0.88, but its sensitivity was only 0.53. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the presence of hemiplegia as witnessed by a bystander can predict LVO with high specificity. This single criterion could be used for decision-making about direct transfer to CSC for MT when the absence of emergency skilled staff precludes the patient's on-site assessment, especially in regions distant from a CSC.
