• Francesco Corradi, Claudia Brusasco, Alessandro Garlaschi, Francesco Paparo, Lorenzo Ball, Gregorio Santori, Paolo Pelosi, Fiorella Altomonte, Antonella Vezzani, and Vito Brusasco.
• Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Unit, Galliera Hospital, 16100 Genoa, Italy.
• Biomed Res Int. 2015 Jan 1; 2015: 868707.

Background And ObjectiveChest X-ray is recommended for routine use in patients with suspected pneumonia, but its use in emergency settings is limited. In this study, the diagnostic performance of a new method for quantitative analysis of lung ultrasonography was compared with bedside chest X-ray and visual lung ultrasonography for detection of community-acquired pneumonia, using thoracic computed tomography as a gold standard.MethodsThirty-two spontaneously breathing patients with suspected community-acquired pneumonia, undergoing computed tomography examination, were consecutively enrolled. Each hemithorax was evaluated for the presence or absence of abnormalities by chest X-ray and quantitative or visual ultrasonography.ResultsQuantitative ultrasonography showed higher sensitivity (93%), specificity (95%), and diagnostic accuracy (94%) than chest X-ray (64%, 80%, and 69%, resp.), visual ultrasonography (68%, 95%, and 77%, resp.), or their combination (77%, 75%, and 77%, resp.).ConclusionsQuantitative lung ultrasonography was considerably more accurate than either chest X-ray or visual ultrasonography in the diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia and it may represent a useful first-line approach for confirmation of clinical diagnosis in emergency settings.

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