Lung ultrasound teaching in medical education: a pilot study at a Brazilian medical school.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate cognitive learning, ability to perform and interpret lung ultrasound exams, and self-perception of learning among medical students after a short pedagogical intervention at a medical school in Brazil. METHODS: An experimental pilot study was conducted with medical students at different stages of their education (basic cycle, clinical cycle, and medical internship). The participants underwent a cognitive test before and after the intervention, a practical test, a test to recognize lung ultrasound pathologies, and a qualitative evaluation test at the end of the intervention. Statistical analysis was performed using a significance level of p < 0.05. RESULTS: A total of 42 students were included in the study, with a median age of 23 years and a predominance of males. The mean score of the pre-intervention cognitive test was 2.97 ± 0.87, and that of the post-intervention test was 6.57 ± 1.41, showing significant improvement (p < 0.001). The score of the practical test and that of the recognition of pathologies test also showed significant improvement after the intervention. There was no significant difference in execution time between the groups. Students in the clinical cycle had a better self-perception of learning. CONCLUSIONS: Theoretical teaching and practical training of lung ultrasound in a short pedagogical intervention can improve cognitive performance, practical skills, and interpretation of the exam. The level of learning achievement was higher among more advanced students in medical education. Additionally, the students in the clinical cycle had a better perception of their learning.

Emergence of Alveolar Consolidations in Serial Lung Ultrasound and Diagnosis of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia.

BACKGROUND: Lung ultrasound (LUS) has been reported as a promising diagnostic tool for ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), but patients with previous lung parenchyma commitment have been not studied. PURPOSE: To evaluate whether the emergence of sonographic consolidations, rather than their presence, can improve the VAP diagnosis in a sample including patients with previous lung parenchyma diseases. METHODS: Patients who completed 48 hours of mechanical ventilation were prospectively studied with daily LUS examinations. We checked the emergence of different consolidation types on the eve and on the day of a clinical suspicion of VAP. We elaborated an algorithm considering, sequentially, the emergence of (1) subpleural consolidations in anterior lung regions on the eve of suspicion; (2) lobar/sublobar consolidation in anterior lung regions on the day of suspicion; (3) lobar/sublobar consolidation with dynamic air bronchograms on the day of suspicion; and (4) any other lobar/sublobar consolidation on the day of suspicion in association with a positive Gram smear of endotracheal aspirate. RESULTS: Of the 188 included patients, 60 were suspected and 33 confirmed VAP. The presence of sonographic consolidations at the clinical suspicion had no diagnostic value for VAP. The emergence of subpleural consolidations in anterior lung regions on the eve of suspicion had specificity of 95% (95% confidence interval [CI], 79%-99%). The emergence of lobar/sublobar consolidations in anterior lung regions on the day of suspicion had specificity of 100% (95% CI, 87%-100%). The emergence of lobar/sublobar consolidations with dynamic air bronchograms on the day of suspicion had specificity of 96% (95% CI, 81%-99%). Finally, the proposed algorithm had sensitivity of 63% (95% CI, 46%-77%) and specificity of 85% (95% CI, 67%-94%) for VAP. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of sonographic consolidations was not accurate for VAP when patients with previous lung parenchyma commitment were included. However, serial LUS examinations detected the emergence of specific signs of VAP.

Lung Ultrasound for the Emergency Diagnosis of Pneumonia, Acute Heart Failure, and Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease/Asthma in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Lung ultrasound can accelerate the diagnosis of life-threatening diseases in adults with respiratory symptoms. OBJECTIVE: Systematically review the accuracy of lung ultrasonography (LUS) for emergency diagnosis of pneumonia, acute heart failure, and exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)/asthma in adults. METHODS: PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, and LILACS (Literatura Latino Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde; until 2016) were searched for prospective diagnostic accuracy studies. Rutter-Gatsonis hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic method was used to measure the overall accuracy of LUS and Reitsma bivariate model to measure the accuracy of the different sonographic signs. This review was previously registered in PROSPERO (Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York, York, UK; CRD42016048085). RESULTS: Twenty-five studies were included: 14 assessing pneumonia, 14 assessing acute heart failure, and four assessing exacerbations of COPD/asthma. The area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve of LUS was 0.948 for pneumonia, 0.914 for acute heart failure, and 0.906 for exacerbations of COPD/asthma. In patients suspected to have pneumonia, consolidation had sensitivity of 0.82 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.74-0.88) and specificity of 0.94 (95% CI 0.85-0.98) for this disease. In acutely dyspneic patients, modified diffuse interstitial syndrome had sensitivity of 0.90 (95% CI 0.87-0.93) and specificity of 0.93 (95% CI 0.91-0.95) for acute heart failure, whereas B-profile had sensitivity of 0.93 (95% CI 0.72-0.98) and specificity of 0.92 (95% CI 0.79-0.97) for this disease in patients with respiratory failure. In patients with acute dyspnea or respiratory failure, the A-profile without PLAPS (posterior-lateral alveolar pleural syndrome) had sensitivity of 0.78 (95% CI 0.67-0.86) and specificity of 0.94 (95% CI 0.89-0.97) for exacerbations of COPD/asthma. CONCLUSION: Lung ultrasound is an accurate tool for the emergency diagnosis of pneumonia, acute heart failure, and exacerbations of COPD/asthma.

Chest ultrasonography for the emergency diagnosis of traumatic pneumothorax and haemothorax: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the accuracy of the chest ultrasonography for the emergency diagnosis of traumatic pneumothorax and haemothorax in adults. STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS: PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science and LILACS (up to 2016) were systematically searched for prospective studies on the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography for pneumothorax and haemothorax in adult trauma patients. The references of other systematic reviews and the included studies were checked for further articles. The characteristics and results of the studies were extracted using a standardised form, and their methodological quality was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS-2). Primary analysis was performed considering each hemithorax as an independent unit, while secondary analysis considered each patient. The global diagnostic accuracy of the chest ultrasonography was estimated using the Rutter-Gatsonis hierarchical summary ROC method. Moreover, Reitsma's bivariate model was used to estimate the sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (LR + ) and negative likelihood ratio (LR-) of each sonographic sign. This review was previously registered (PROSPERO CRD42016048085). RESULTS: Nineteen studies were included in the review, 17 assessing pneumothorax and 5 assessing haemothorax. The reference standard was always chest tomography, alone or in parallel with chest radiography and observation of the chest tube. The overall methodological quality of the studies was low. The diagnostic accuracy of chest ultrasonography had an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.979 for pneumothorax (Fig). The absence of lung sliding and comet-tail artefacts was the most reported sonographic sign of pneumothorax, with a sensitivity of 0.81 (95% confidence interval [95%CI], 0.71-0.88), specificity of 0.98 (95%CI, 0.97-0.99), LR+ of 67.9 (95%CI, 26.3-148) and LR- of 0.18 (95%CI, 0.11-0.29). An echo-poor or anechoic area in the pleural space was the only sonographic sign for haemothorax, with a sensitivity of 0.60 (95%CI, 0.31-0.86), specificity of 0.98 (95%CI, 0.94-0.99), LR+ of 37.5 (95%CI, 5.26-207.5), LR- of 0.40 (95%CI, 0.17-0.72) and AUC of 0.953. CONCLUSION: Notwithstanding the limitations of the included studies, this systematic review and meta-analysis suggested that chest ultrasonography is an accurate tool for the diagnostic assessment of traumatic pneumothorax and haemothorax in adults.

Accuracy and Applications of Lung Ultrasound to Diagnose Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Lung ultrasound (LUS) is an accurate tool to diagnose community-acquired pneumonia. However, it is not yet an established tool to diagnose ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). PURPOSE: To assess the evidence about LUS in the diagnosis of VAP, we conducted a systematic review of the literature. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, and LILACS. Two researchers independently selected the studies that met the inclusion criteria. Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS-2) tool was used to assess the quality of the studies. In a qualitative synthesis, 3 questions guided the review: Q1. What are the sonographic signs of VAP? Q2. How can LUS be combined with others tests or signs of VAP? Q3. What is the role of LUS in VAP screening? MAIN RESULTS: Three studies (n = 377 patients) with different designs were included. In terms of Q1, the 3 studies assessed the accuracy of sonographic consolidations. In patients suspected for VAP, lobar or hemilobar consolidation alone was not sufficient to diagnose VAP but seems useful to exclude it. The most useful signs were small subpleural consolidations (sensitivity: 81%; specificity: 41%) and dynamic air bronchograms (sensitivity: 44%; specificity: 81%). Two studies were assessed for Q2, when the 2 signs above were included in a clinical score (Ventilator-associated Pneumonia Lung Ultrasound Score associated with quantitative culture of endotracheal aspirate-VPLUS-EAquant), the accuracy was amplified (sensitivity: 48% and specificity: 97% for score ≥4; sensitivity: 78% and specificity: 77% for score ≥3 points). Finally, regarding Q3, no studies have assessed the use of LUS in screening of VAP. CONCLUSION: Small subpleural consolidations and dynamic air bronchograms were the most useful sonographic signs to diagnose VAP in suspected patients. Clinical scores including LUS had better diagnosis accuracy than LUS alone. There are no data on LUS for VAP screening.

Cholestasis as the initial presentation of relapsing polychondritis.

Relapsing polychondritis is an immune-mediated disease associated with inflammation in cartilaginous structures and other tissues throughout the body, particularly the ears, nose, eyes, joints, and respiratory tract. Although association with other conditions is seen in about one-third of the cases, liver involvement is not usually observed in those patients. We described a case of liver involvement in relapsing polychondritis, presenting with a predominantly cholestatic pattern. Other conditions associated with abnormal liver tests were excluded and the patient showed a prompt response to steroid therapy. We discuss the spectrum of the liver involvement in relapsing and review the literature.