Chinese researchers have shown that adult pneumonia can be quite precisely diagnosed with lung ultrasound, according to a study conducted by members of the intensive care unit at Hebei General Hospital in the province of Hebei.
The team conducted a meta-analysis of data from 12 studies involving 1,515 patients, according to the study abstract.
They gleaned the data from PubMed, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Embase databases, comparing outcomes following pneumonia diagnosis with lung ultrasound versus chest x-ray and chest CT.
The researchers calculated pooled sensitivity and specificity, along with pooled diagnostic odds ratio. They also assessed heterogeneity of sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic odds ratio.
Their summarized findings:
The pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.88 and 0.86, respectively.
The pooled negative likelihood ratio was 0.13, the positive likelihood ratio was 5.37, and the diagnostic odds ratio was 65.46.
The summary receiver operating characteristic curve indicated a relationship between sensitivity and specificity.
And the area under the curve for lung ultrasound was 0.95.
“Pneumonia is a common and serious infectious disease that can cause high mortality,” the authors write. “Lung ultrasound can help to diagnose adult pneumonia with high accuracy.”
According to the abstract, the full study is slated to run in the open-access journal Medicine.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.