Kawa A. Mahmood¹, Aram Baram^1,2*, Fahmi H. Kakamad^1,2, Kosar K. Ahmed³

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¹ Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Sulaimani, Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan.
² Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Sulaimani Teaching Hospital, Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan.
³ Sulaimani DOH, Sulaimani Teaching Hospital, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq Kurdistan.
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Abstract: Background: Pneumothorax is a common problem seen in patients with acute and chronic medical and traumatic conditions with wide range of clinical presentations ranging from subtle decrease in breath sounds to cardiopulmonary arrest caused by tension pneumothorax. Pneumothorax is traditionally diagnosed by chest radiography, ultrasound is fairly a new modality of diagnosis. Ultrasound is a rapid noninvasive bedside test that may reduce mortality from this pathology by early detection. There are certain sonographic criteria that can exclude or confirm pneumothorax; this work has been performed to analyze these criteria. Patients and Methods: The study was done in Sulaimani teaching hospital and Sulaimani emergency hospital from June 1st to 10th August 2013. We performed thoracic ultrasound on fifty three diagnosed cases of pneumothorax (by chest X-ray &/or thoracic computed tomography). The age of the patients ranged between (10 - 82 years), mean age (38 years), 35 males and 18 females. Lung sliding sign, lung point sign and A line signs were recorded and analyzed. Results: The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive values of absent lung sliding sign were: 100%, 94%, 94% and 100% respectively, for lung point sign were: 70%, 100%, 100% and 68% respectively, for A line sign were: 91%, 71%, 73% and 91% respectively, for absent lung sliding and lung point sign together were 70%, 100%, 100% & 68.9% respectively. Conclusion: We confirmed the conclusion of other studies which stated that presence of lung sliding excludes pneumothorax and identification of lung point in a case with absent lung sliding is diagnostic of pneumothorax.

Keywords: Pneumothorax, Sonography, e.FAST, Lung Sliding Sign

Cite this paper: Mahmood, K. , Baram, A. , H. Kakamad, F. and Ahmed, K. (2015) Role of Thoracic Sonographic Scan in Diagnosis of Pneumothorax. International Journal of Medical Physics, Clinical Engineering and Radiation Oncology, 4, 255-262. doi: 10.4236/ijmpcero.2015.43030.

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