Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36991260›Full record

ArticleThe ultrasound journal2023

Lung ultrasound: are we diagnosing too much?

Giovanni Volpicelli, Thomas Fraccalini, Luciano Cardinale

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The ultrasound journal, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
3.0field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Giovanni VolpicelliDepartment of Emergency Medicine, San Luigi Gonzaga University Hospital, Turin, Italy. giovi.volpicelli@gmail.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1000-6054
Thomas FraccaliniDepartment of Emergency Medicine, San Luigi Gonzaga University Hospital, Turin, Italy.
Luciano CardinaleDepartment of Oncology, Radiology Unit, San Luigi Gonzaga University Hospital, Turin, Italy.
Ospedale San Luigi Gonzaga · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The clinical use of lung ultrasound (LUS) has made more efficient many diagnostic processes at bedside. The great power of LUS is a superior diagnostic sensitivity in many applications, when compared to chest radiography (CXR). The implementation of LUS in emergency is contributing to reveal a growing number of radio-occult pulmonary conditions. In some diseases, the superior sensitivity of LUS is a great advantage, like for pneumothorax and pulmonary edema. Diagnosing at bedside pneumothoraxes, pulmonary congestions, and COVID-19 pneumonia that are visible by LUS but undetected by CXR may be decisive for appropriate management, and even for saving lives. However, in other conditions, like bacterial pneumonia and small peripheral infarctions due to subsegmental pulmonary embolism, the high sensitivity of LUS does not always lead to advantages. Indeed, we doubt that it is always necessary to treat by antibiotics patients suspected of lower respiratory tract infection, who show radio-occult pulmonary consolidations, and to treat by anticoagulation patients with small subsegmental pulmonary embolism. The possibility that we are overtreating radio-occult conditions should be investigated with dedicated clinical trials.

Identifiers

PMID36991260
PMCPMC10054206
OpenAlexW4361285523

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.