Role of Chest Ultrasound in Diagnosing and Follow-up of Pneumonia

Overview

The study of a large number of patients (at least 200 patients) from several European centres aims to investigate the value of chest ultrasound in diagnosing and checking the course of pneumonia as compared to a chest X-ray film in two planes and - in case of a controversial X-ray finding- as compared to low-dose CT. An X-ray finding is regarded controversial, if infiltrates cannot be reliably excluded or not reliably represented and if a definite diagnosis is, thus, not possible. A low-dose CT is indicated even in case of a positive chest ultrasound and negative X-ray finding. Sonographic recording and characterization of pneumonic infiltrates is performed both at the time of diagnosing and in the further course under therapy.

The primary target criterion is • Assessing the sensitivity of chest ultrasound in diagnosing pneumonia. Secondary target criteria comprise * Assessing specificity, negative and positive predictive value of chest ultrasound at the time of diagnosing, * Characterizing pneumonic infiltrates at the time of diagnosing and further course, * Describing the association between clinical, X-ray and sonographic findings in the course of pneumonia. The tertiary target criterion includes • Characterizing the range of pathogens detected by microbiological examination.

Conditions

Eligibility