RESUMO
Objective:To evaluate the diagnostic value of refined transthoracic lung ultrasound(TLUS) scoring method in interstitial lung diseases(ILD).Methods:The TLUS was performed in 39 ILD patients in respiratory department and immunology department of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University from March 2019 to February 2020. The ultrasonic recordings were evaluated by Buda ultrasound scoring method and refined ultrasound scoring method. The diagnostic efficacies of the refined ultrasound scoring method, Buda ultrasound scoring method and high resolution computed tomography(HRCT) scoring method for ILD were analyzed. The correlations between refined ultrasound score and Buda ultrasound score/HRCT score were evaluated. The difference of diagnostic efficacy between refined ultrasound scoring method and Buda ultrasound scoring method were analyzed in different severity of ILD. Then, the HRCT Warrick scoring method was used as the criterion to judge the severity of ILD, and the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted to predict the cutoff values of the fefined ultrasound score for different degrees of ILD.Results:①The sensitivity of the refined ultrasound scoring method in diagnosing ILD was 92.3%, specificity was 92.3%, area under ROC curve(AUC)=0.978, 95% CI=0.941-1.000. The sensitivity of Buda ultrasound scoring method in diagnosing ILD was 87.2%, specificity was 87.2%, AUC=0.950, 95% CI=0.892-1.000. The sensitivity of HRCT scoring method in diagnosing ILD was 97.4%, specificity was 97.4%, AUC=0.999, 95% CI=0.994-1.000. ②The correlations between the refined ultrasound score, the HRCT Warrick score and the Buda ultrasound score were high ( r=0.929, 0.920, 0.862 respectively, P<0.001). ③The values of refined ultrasound scoring method and Buda ultrasound scoring method consistently and significantly increased with the increasing severity of ILD. With regards to the former one, there were significant differences among mild group, moderate group and severe group ( P<0.05). ④The ROC curve confirmed that refined ultrasound score cut-off points for predicting mild and severe interstitial lung diseases, were 34 [sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 87.5% respectively, AUC=0.891, 95% CI=0.686-1.000] and 64.5 [sensitivity of 91.3%, specificity of 87.5% respectively, AUC=0.954, 95% CI=0.877-1.000]. Conclusions:The severity of the interstitial lung diseases could be evaluated by the refined ultrasound scoring method, which is useful in the semi-quantitative evaluation of ILD.