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Ultrasonography of the Chest Wall

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Chest Sonography

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Abstract

Fractures of the rib and the sternum can be seen well on ultrasound. Fracture diagnosis by ultrasonography is not only much more sensitive than conventional X-rays, but also demonstrates accompanying soft tissue lesions, hematomas and pleural effusions reliably and rapidly. The visualization of lymph nodes and a tentative statement about the malignant or benign nature of a lesion constitute an important reason to perform an ultrasound investigation of the chest wall. In case a puncture needs to be performed prior to treatment, ambiguous lesions in the chest wall can be easily accessed for an ultrasound-guided puncture and subsequent histological confirmation of the diagnosis. The risks associated with puncture are very low because of the convenient location. In cases of proven malignancy, lesions of the chest wall can be monitored during treatment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Helmut Prosch

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  1. Helmut Prosch
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Correspondence to Helmut Prosch .

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  1. Rankweil, Austria

    Gebhard Mathis

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Prosch, H. (2017). Ultrasonography of the Chest Wall. In: Mathis, G. (eds) Chest Sonography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44072-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44072-9_2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-44071-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-44072-9

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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