ArticlePloS one2022
Ultrasonography can replace chest X-rays in the postoperative care of thoracic surgical patients.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Revolution or routine? Comparing AI and traditional imaging in thoracic surgery outcomes: a systematic review.Journal of medicine and life · 2025Pooled it
- Associations between perioperative lung ultrasound score and postoperative pulmonary complications in patients with skull base tumor resection: a retrospective single-center cohort study.BMC anesthesiology · 2026Article
- Ten Questions on Using Lung Ultrasonography to Diagnose and Manage Pneumonia in Hospital-at-Home Model: Part III-Synchronicity and Foresight.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Lung ultrasound as a diagnostic tool for pulmonary consolidation and atelectasis after cardiac surgery.Journal of thoracic disease · 2025Article
- Perioperative Lung Ultrasound Findings in Elective Intra-Abdominal Surgery: Associations with Postoperative Pulmonary Complications.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Optimization of lung ultrasound in ultrafast-track anesthesia for non-cyanotic congenital heart disease surgery.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Chest X-rays and Lung Ultrasound Are Not Interchangeable in Intensive Care Practice.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Lung Ultrasound Reduces Chest X-rays in Postoperative Care after Thoracic Surgery: Is There a Role for Artificial Intelligence?-Systematic Review.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesLung ultrasound accurately identifies pulmonary and pleural pathologies. Presently it has not been accepted as a routine examination in the postoperative follow-up of thoracic surgical patients. The present study aimed to compare thoracic ultrasonography with chest X-ray for detecting and clinical relevance of pneumothorax, pleural effusion, and lung consolidation and determine whether ultrasonography could replace chest X-ray as the standard examination after surgery.
methodsIn this blinded, prospective, single-center study, lung ultrasound images were obtained within 2 hours of post-operative routine chest X-ray. A severity score was given to each examination in each technique. Lung ultrasound and chest X-ray results were compared by three methods: absolute comparison of normal to abnormal, the degree of pathology, and the clinical findings' relevance.
resultsEighty patients were enrolled from 2013 to 2017, and 215 ultrasonography images were obtained. For pneumothorax, the precise overlap was found in 129/180 (72%) images. In 24% of examinations, X-ray missed ultrasonography findings. There was an agreement between studies in 80/212 (38%) images for pleural effusion. 60% of pleural effusions were missed by chest X-ray and detected by ultrasonography, and only 2.4% were missed by ultrasound, all very small. Clinically relevant fluid accumulation found a precise match in 80%, and 20% were found only by lung ultrasound. For lung consolidation, a 100% overlap was found with both methods.
conclusionsOur results suggest that lung ultrasound may replace chest X-ray as the standard examination in the postoperative care of patients undergoing thoracic surgical procedures.
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