title: Lung Ultrasound Diagnostic Accuracy in Neonatal Pneumothorax.
abstract: Background. Pneumothorax (PTX) still remains a common cause of morbidity in critically ill and ventilated neonates. At the present time, lung ultrasound (LUS) is not included in the diagnostic work-up of PTX in newborns despite of excellent evidence of reliability in adults. The aim of this study was to compare LUS, chest X-ray (CXR), and chest transillumination (CTR) for PTX diagnosis in a group of neonates in which the presence of air in the pleural space was confirmed. Methods. In a 36-month period, 49 neonates with respiratory distress were enrolled in the study. Twenty-three had PTX requiring aspiration or chest drainage (birth weight 2120 ± 1640 grams; gestational age = 36 ± 5 weeks), and 26 were suffering from respiratory distress without PTX (birth weight 2120 ± 1640 grams; gestational age = 34 ± 5 weeks). Both groups had done LUS, CTR, and CXR. Results. LUS was consistent with PTX in all 23 patients requiring chest aspiration. In this group, CXR did not detect PTX in one patient while CTR did not detect it in 3 patients. Sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing PTX were therefore 1 for LUS, 0.96 and 1 for CXR, and 0.87 and 0.96 for CTR. Conclusions. Our results confirm that also in newborns LUS is at least as accurate as CXR in the diagnosis of PTX while CTR has a lower accuracy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, Santa Maria della Misericordia University Hospital, 33100 Udine, Italy.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0155-9693
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cattarossi
authors.affiliation: Emergency Department, Latisana General Hospital, 33053 Latisana, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Copetti
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics and Neonatology, Ospedali Riuniti Marche Nord, Pesaro, Italy.
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0577-7137
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Brusa
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, Santa Maria della Misericordia University Hospital, 33100 Udine, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4479-9515
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pintaldi
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D011030:Pneumothorax / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D014172:Transillumination; D014463:Ultrasonography