Lung Ultrasound in Pleuritic Chest Pain

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Chest pain is an alarming symptom and one of the most frequent causes of access to the Emergency Departement. Although chest X-ray remains an essential step in the diagnostic process, several studies showed numerous limitations of radiography which frequently is inconclusive. Ultrasonography is a non-radiating imaging technique. Albeit a wide use of ultrasound, the utilization of ultrasound in the study of the lung has only recently been introduced in the clinical practice. Several studies proved that lung ultrasound is useful in the diagnosis of lung consolidation in community acquired pneumonia. Nowadays, ultrasound is not routinely used in the presence of chest pain. Our hypothesis based on clinical experience is that, in patients with pleuritic chest pain, lung ultrasound is very sensitive in detecting pneumonia and other lung diseases (such as pneumothorax) thus performing better than radiography. The primary aim of this study is to verify, in patients affected by pleuritic chest pain, the accuracy of lung ultrasound compared to chest-X-ray. The secondary aim is to evaluate the accuracy of lung ultrasound consolidations in distinguishing lung consolidation in pneumonia, atelectasis, pulmonary infarction, or tumors.

Official Title
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Lung Ultrasound in Pleuritic Chest Pain: a Multicenter, Prospective, Diagnostic Accuracy Study.

Conditions
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Community Acquired Pneumonia, Pleuritis, Pulmonary Embolism, Lung Cancer

Intervention / Treatment
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* Procedure: Lung ultrasound


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: patient aged 18 years and older patient affected by thoracic pleuritic pain Exclusion Criteria: patient affected by a chronic condition causing thoracic pain patient affected by acute cardiovascular diseases (e.g. acute coronary syndrome)

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Patients with pleuritic chest pain<br>Study investigators will perform lung ultrasound in each patient with pleuritic chest pain at inclusion | Procedure: Lung ultrasound<br>* Lung ultrasonography performed and interpreted by a physician (Pulmonologist or Emergency Physician) possessing specific knowledge in the procedure and a training of at least 100 thoracic ultrasonographies in accordance to a prespecified protocol.<br>* Other names: Lung sonography;|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Sensitivity and specificity of lung ultrasound in pneumonia, chest wall pain, lung cancer, pulmonary embolism or other causes in patients presenting with pleuritic chest pain. | Sensitivity and specificity, positive and negative predictive values of lung ultrasound in pneumonia, chest wall pain, lung cancer, pulmonary embolism or other causes in patients presenting with pleuritic chest pain. | 30 days | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Accuracy of ultrasound in distinguishing lung consolidation in pneumonia, atelectasis, pulmonary infarction or tumors | Accuracy of ultrasound in differentiating consolidation in distinguishing lung consolidation in pneumonia, atelectasis, pulmonary infarction, tumors or other diseases with respect to the final diagnosis stated by a scientific committee. | 30 days | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Lung ultrasound, Community acquired p neumonia (CAP), Pleuritis, Pulmonary embolism, Lung Cancer