title: Chest Sonography in the Diagnosis of Pneumothorax.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Few studies have assessed the utility of chest ultrasonography in the diagnosis of pneumothorax in India.
  
  
  METHODS
  Chest ultrasonography was undertaken in 126 haemodynamically stable patients, followed by a chest radiograph within 30 minutes. If pneumothorax was not seen on the chest radiograph, a non-contrast computed tomography of the thorax was performed within 3 hours. The time taken to make or exclude a diagnosis of pneumothorax, by ultrasonography, was assessed. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy of chest ultrasonography was estimated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For the diagnosis of pneumothorax in any clinical situation, the average time taken on ultrasonography was less than 2 minutes. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, PPV and NPV of chest ultrasonography was 89%, 88.5%, 88.9%, 96.7% and 67.6%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Chest ultrasonography can be used as a primary imaging modality in the diagnosis of pneumothorax in a vast variety of clinical situations.
authors.forename: Jitendra
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Balesa
authors.forename: Vinita
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rathi
authors.forename: Sunil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Anupama
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tandon
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011030:Pneumothorax / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014463:Ultrasonography; D055815:Young Adult