Published in:
01-12-2016 | Respiratory Infections (F Arnold, Section Editor)
Lung Ultrasound Will Soon Replace Chest Radiography in the Diagnosis of Acute Community-Acquired Pneumonia
Authors:
Jean-Eudes Bourcier, Sergiu Braga, Didier Garnier
Published in:
Current Infectious Disease Reports
|
Issue 12/2016
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Abstract
Acute community-acquired pneumonia should be diagnosed early to avoid most complications. The common diagnostic tools were represented by blood tests and chest X-ray with CT scan coming as a second-line exploration. The presence of air in the pulmonary parenchyma has long been thought of as not explorable by ultrasound. However, since the 1990s, several teams have described a semiology of ultrasonography of pulmonary diseases. Moreover, the safety of the technique and the development of mobile and ultra-portable devices have offered it as a first-line examination by a non-radiologist physician. The authors describe in this article ultrasonography as a way of learning the technique, and the main results observed in the literature. In conclusion, they propose it as the first-line examination instead of chest X-ray, and to reserve chest CT scan for complicated cases.