Low Diagnostic Accuracy of Transthoracic Ultrasound for the Assessment of Spontaneous Pneumothorax in the Emergency Setting: A Multicentric Study

Abstract

Background: Pneumothorax (PNX) represents a common clinical condition in emergency departments (EDs), requiring prompt recognition and treatment. The role of transthoracic ultrasounds (TUSs) in the diagnosis of PNX is still debated. We aimed to prospectively evaluate the accuracy of TUSs in the detection of spontaneous PNX in EDs. Methods: A total of 637 consecutive adult patients who presented to the EDs of four Italian hospitals complaining of acutely onset chest pain and dyspnoea were included in the study. Exclusion criteria were previous traumatic events, cardiogenic causes of pain/dyspnoea and suspected tension PNX. The absence of “lung sliding” (B-mode) and the “bar-code” sign (M-mode) were considered indicative of PNX in a TUS. Accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values (PPVs, NPVs) were calculated using a chest CT scan as reference. Results: Spontaneous PNX occurred in 93 patients: of those, 83 (89.2%) were correctly identified by TUSs. However, 306 patients with suspected PNX at TUS were not confirmed by chest CTs. The diagnostic accuracy of both the absence of “lung sliding” and “bar-code” sign during TUS was 50.4% (95% CI: 46.4–54.3), sensitivity was 89.2% (95% CI: 81.1–94.7), specificity was 43.8% (95% CI: 39.5–48.0), the PPV was 21.3% (95% CI: 19.7–23.1) and the NPV was 96.0% (95% CI: 92.9–97.7). Conclusions: TUS showed high sensitivity but low specificity in the identification of PNX in EDs. Relying exclusively on TUSs results for patients’ management in ED settings is neither suitable nor recommendable. TUS examination can be useful to strengthen the clinical suspicion of PNX, but its results should be confirmed by a chest X-ray or CT scan.