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Background To assess diagnostic performance of lung ultrasound (LUS) in identifying ARDS morphology (focal vs non-focal), compared with the gold standard computed tomography. Methods Mechanically ventilated ARDS patients undergoing lung computed tomography and ultrasound were enrolled. Twelve fields, were evaluated. LUS score was graded from 0 (normal) to 3 (consolidation) according to B-lines extent. Total and regional LUS score as the sum of the four ventral (LUSV), intermediate (LUSI) or dorsal (LUSD) fields, were calculated. Based on lung CT, ARDS morphology was defined as (1) focal (loss of aeration with lobar distribution); (2) non-focal (widespread loss of aeration or segmental loss of aeration distribution associated with uneven lung attenuation areas), and diagnostic accuracy of LUS in discriminating ARDS morphology was determined by AU-ROC in training and validation set of patients. Results Forty-seven patients with ARDS (25 training set and 22 validation set) were enrolled. LUSTOT, LUSV and LUSI but not LUSD score were significantly lower in focal than in non-focal ARDS morphologies (p < .01). The AU-ROC curve of LUSTOT, LUSV, LUSI and LUSD for identification of non-focal ARDS morphology were 0.890, 0.958, 0.884 and 0.421, respectively. LUSV value ≥ 3 had the best predictive value (sensitivity = 0.95, specificity = 1.00) in identifying non-focal ARDS morphology. In the validation set, an LUSV score ≥ 3 confirmed to be highly predictive of non-focal ARDS morphology, with a sensitivity and a specificity of 94% and 100%. Conclusions LUS had a valuable performance in distinguishing ARDS morphology.

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Evaluate Magnetic Resonance (MR) and Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA) sensibility in the diagnosis and follow-up of dissection of Internal Carotid and Vertebral Artery (ICA/VA). We revalued MR examination of 36 patients, 24 men, 12 women, aged 18-69 years. All patients underwent brain TC and MR (GE 1 Tesla); in 16 subjects 3D Time-of-Flight (TOF-3D) MRA was performed and in 20 subjects a Contrast-Enhanced MRA (CEMRA) of neck and head arteries. Thirty-one patients underwent a MRA follow-up. Dissection involved ICA in 30 and VA in 8. MR showed ischemic signs in 25 cases, wall hematoma in 19, and was normal in 11. MRA showed 25 vessels stenosis, 12 occlusions, and 9 aneurysm. Follow-up MRA showed 6 cases of complete resolution of stenosis, 17 partial resolution, 2 aneurysmal dissecanting, 6 luminal alteration unchanged, 1 aneurysma enlarged. MRA represented a non-invasive technique as investigation in suspected cervicocephalic arteries dissection.