Ultrasound in medicine & biology
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Ultrasound Med Biol · Aug 2020
Observational StudyLung Ultrasound in Children with COVID-19: Preliminary Findings.
Recent evidence indicates the usefulness of lung ultrasound (LUS) in detecting coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pneumonia. However, no data are available on the use of LUS in children with COVID-19 pneumonia. In this report, we describe LUS features of 10 consecutively admitted children with COVID-19 in two tertiary-level pediatric hospitals in Rome. ⋯ In particular, vertical artifacts (70%), pleural irregularities (60%), areas of white lung (10%) and subpleural consolidations (10%) were the main findings in patients with COVID-19. No cases of pleural effusions were found. According to our experience, the routine use of LUS in the evaluation of children with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, when performed by clinicians with documented experience in LUS, was useful in diagnosing and monitoring pediatric COVID-19 pneumonia, reducing unnecessary radiation/sedation in children and exposure of health care workers to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
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Ultrasound Med Biol · Jul 2020
A Novel, Reliable Protocol to Objectively Assess Scar Stiffness Using Shear Wave Elastography.
The aim of this research was to investigate the use of shear wave elastography as a novel tool to quantify and visualize scar stiffness after a burn. Increased scar stiffness is indicative of pathologic scarring which is associated with persistent pain, chronic itch and restricted range of movement. Fifty-five participants with a total of 96 scars and 69 contralateral normal skin sites were evaluated. ⋯ Shear wave elastography was able to differentiate between normal skin, pathologic scars and non-pathologic scars, with preliminary cutoff values identified. Significant correlations were found between shear wave velocity and subjective clinical scar assessment (r = 0.66). Shear wave elastography was able to provide unique information associated with pathologic scarring and shows promise as a clinical assessment and research tool.
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Ultrasound Med Biol · May 2020
Quantitative Assessment of Keloids Using Ultrasound Shear Wave Elastography.
This study was aimed at investigating the value of shear wave elastography (SWE) in quantitative evaluation of keloids. A total of 87 patients with 139 keloids were enrolled. Vancouver scar scale (VSS) scores were recorded. ⋯ Cmean in the longitudinal section was greater than that in the transverse section for keloids (p < 0.001). Cmean was highly positively correlated with VSS score (r = 0.904, p < 0.001), moderately positively correlated with thickness (r = 0.490, p < 0.001) and less positively correlated with blood flow (r = 0.231, p < 0.01). This non-invasive, tolerable and convenient imaging technique could be an effective tool for objectively evaluating keloid stiffness in the future, thus laying a foundation for the treatment and evaluation of keloids.
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Ultrasound Med Biol · Feb 2020
Intra-observer and Device-Dependent Inter-observer Reliability of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound for Muscle Perfusion Quantification.
Muscle perfusion quantification by contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) may facilitate treatment decisions in musculoskeletal disorders. Translation into clinical routine relies on high intra-observer and inter-observer reliability and transferability between ultrasound devices to enable validation and multicenter studies. This study evaluates these aspects for deltoid muscle perfusion quantification, including possible multicenter study setups. ⋯ Re-evaluating subgroups with high sectional plane concordance significantly increased reliability (intra-observer: ICC = .97, CV = 5.49%, inter-observer/same device: ICC = .98, CV = 5.83%, varying devices: ICC = .78, CV = 9.8%). CEUS perfusion quantification of the deltoid seems applicable for multicenter studies, yet pooling different ultrasound devices remains critical. Sectional plane concordance appears to be crucial for reliability and transferability of CEUS muscle perfusion quantifications.
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Ultrasound Med Biol · Jan 2020
Comparative StudyA Pilot Prospective Study to Validate Point-of-Care Ultrasound in Comparison to X-Ray Examination in Detecting Fractures.
Despite its limitations, conventional radiography is the method of choice for fracture evaluation in the emergency department. Only a few studies, moreover in limited populations, have evaluated the possible benefits of ultrasound (US), and especially of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), in the diagnosis of fractures. We sought to compare the accuracy of POCUS with that of conventional radiography in the diagnosis of bone fractures. ⋯ The negative predictive value was 96.98% (CI: 94.86%-98.27%), 97.43% (CI: 95.31%-98.64%) and 91.43% (CI: 75.81%-97.76%) in the three groups, respectively. Cohen's κ coefficient revealed high agreement of 0.87 for both the whole group and adult patients and 0.81 for pediatric patients. We found that POCUS has significant diagnostic accuracy in evaluating fracture compared with plain radiography, with excellent sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values.