Key result
Thoracic ultrasonography accurately detects pulmonary embolism with an overall AUC of 0.91.
Why the study?
The study was conducted to evaluate the accuracy of thoracic ultrasonography in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism.
Does thoracic ultrasonography accurately diagnose pulmonary embolism in patients evaluated for PE?
Meta-Analysis (n=1,916)
Does thoracic ultrasonography accurately diagnose pulmonary embolism in patients evaluated for PE?
Thoracic ultrasonography has moderate sensitivity and high specificity for diagnosing pulmonary embolism, making it a useful adjunctive tool but insufficient to safely rule out the condition alone.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Useful adjunct for pulmonary embolism evaluation but insufficient alone to exclude it; extends pooled diagnostic accuracy evidence.
AIMS: The present study investigated and evaluated the accuracy of thoracic ultrasonography (TUS) in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE) by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The PubMed, Em-base and the Cochrane library databases were searched till March 2019 to retrieve relevant articles and the overall diagnostic accuracy of TUS in PE diagnosis was evaluated by meta-analysis. RESULTS: Overall, 16 studies including 1,916 patients were enrolled in this meta-analysis. Of these, 762 (39.8%) had confirmed PE. The overall sensitivity, specificity, and area under the ROC curve (AUC) of TUS for PE were 82% (95% confidence interval (CI), 72%-88%), 89% (95% CI, 79%-95%), and 0.91 (95% CI, 0.88-0.93), respectively. Other efficacy parameters assessed demonstrated a positive likelihood ratio (PLR) of (7.6; 95% CI, 4.0-14.5), negative likelihood ratio of (NLR) (0.21; 95% CI, 0.14-0.30), and diagnostic odds' ratio (DOR) of (36.86; 95% CI, 21.41-63.48). CONCLUSIONS: The current study suggested that although TUS cannot safely rule out PE, it is likely to be used as an aid or guidance to establish procedures and help to improve the diagnostic deficits in patients with PE.
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Wu et al. (2021) conducted a meta-analysis in Suspected pulmonary embolism (n=1,916). Thoracic ultrasonography vs. Reference gold standard was evaluated on Area under the ROC curve (AUC) for diagnosing pulmonary embolism (AUC 0.91, 95% CI 0.88-0.93). Thoracic ultrasonography demonstrated an overall sensitivity of 82%, specificity of 89%, and an area under the ROC curve of 0.91 for the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism.
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