Thoracic Ultrasound Overview

The usefulness of thoracic ultrasonography in diagnosis and staging of bronchogenic carcinoma

“…consolidations and/or peritumoural atelectasis. Islam and Tonn 14 postulated that peripheral lung tumours can be detected by US as long as the tumour is attached to the pleura. A similar lower US detection rate for pulmonary masses (62%) had been reported by Abu-Youssef et al.…”

“…In the same context previous studies documented that the thoracic US had higher sensitivity and specificity for detection of pleural and chest wall invasion than chest CT-scan. 14,19,29,35,36…”

“…23 (5) Chest wall infiltration: the examination was completed with a 9.5-15 MHz linear transducer, all layers of the chest wall; muscle, fascia, parietal and visceral pleura are identified with TUS. 14 Chest wall infiltration is suspected if: (1) the tumour-pleural contact >3 cm, (2) the angle between the tumour and the lung surface is obtuse and (3) the adjacent pleura are thickened. Absent sliding sign (backward and forward movement of parietal and visceral pleura over each other) indicates parietal pleural invasion.…”

“…12,13 Although chest CT-scan examination can determine the stage of lung cancer, real-time high-resolution thoracic US examination has proven superior to the chest CT-scan in the detection of tumour invasion of pleura and chest wall. 14…”

“…12,13 Although chest CT-scan examination can determine the stage of lung cancer, real-time high-resolution thoracic US examination has proven superior to the chest CT-scan in the detection of tumour invasion of pleura and chest wall. 14 Imaging-guided percutaneous thoracic US biopsy is a well-established effective and safe minimally invasive technique to obtain sufficient tissue specimens for histopathologic diagnosis of different intrathoracic lesions. 15 Percutaneous biopsy yields tissue samples for diagnosis and staging and facilitates differentiation of primary cancer from distant metastasis or infective and inflammatory lesions, which is crucial for correct management of lung lesions.…”