Journal of ultrasound in medicine : official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
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Meta Analysis
Diagnosis of Acute Heart Failure Using Inferior Vena Cava Ultrasound: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
The utility of bedside inferior vena cava (IVC) ultrasound (US) in the diagnosis of heart failure (HF) is unclear. The aim of this study was to determine whether IVC parameters in patients with acute heart failure (AHF) are statistically different from those without HF. ⋯ Bedside IVC US showed that a statistically significant difference existed in the IVC parameters between patients with and without AHF. Based on mean calculations, an IVCexp of greater than 2.0 cm and an IVC-CI of less than 30% are reasonable cutoffs to suggest that a patient with acute dyspnea is more likely to have AHF than a non-AHF condition. Given the high degree of heterogeneity across the studies and the high risk of bias, larger randomized studies are warranted to explore the use of IVC US in patients with HF.
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Review Meta Analysis Comparative Study
Sonography of the Optic Nerve Sheath Diameter for Detection of Raised Intracranial Pressure Compared to Computed Tomography: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
The diagnosis of raised intracranial pressure (ICP) is important in many critically ill patients. The optic nerve sheath is contiguous with the subarachnoid space; thus, an increase in ICP results in a corresponding increase in the optic nerve sheath diameter. The objective of this study was to assess the diagnostic accuracy of sonography of the optic nerve sheath diameter compared to computed tomography (CT) for predicting raised ICP. ⋯ Ocular sonography shows good diagnostic test accuracy for detecting raised ICP compared to CT: specifically, high sensitivity for ruling out raised ICP in a low-risk group and high specificity for ruling in raised ICP in a high-risk group. This noninvasive point-of-care method could lead to rapid interventions for raised ICP, assist centers without CT, and monitor patients during transport or as part of a protocol to reduce CT use.
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Review Meta Analysis
Meta-analysis of sonography in the diagnosis of inguinal hernias.
Groin hernias are common conditions, and there is a need for accurate imaging when the clinical diagnosis is not clear. A meta-analysis was undertaken to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of sonography in the diagnosis of inguinal hernias. After review of literature searches, 9 original articles were included. ⋯ In cases of diagnostic uncertainty, sonography offers value as an initial imaging modality. It has advantages over other radiologic methods, as it is inexpensive and has minimal complications. When the clinical diagnosis of an inguinal hernia is uncertain, sonographic findings should be interpreted in conjunction with clinical judgment, as its diagnostic accuracy is reduced in the absence of any clinically palpable hernia.
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Review Meta Analysis
Sonographic interstitial syndrome: the sound of lung water.
Ultrasound lung comets (ULCs) now have an acknowledged correlation with extravascular lung water, but they present in different orders and numbers in different pathologic pulmonary entities. How these artifacts are created is not yet known, and the literature gives discordant hypotheses. Understanding their formation is the first step in understanding lung disease. The purpose of this study was to show the morphologic and genetic variability of interstitial lung disease studied with echography and thus to propose a unitary mechanism for the formation of ULCs. ⋯ Reverberation between bubbles with a critical radius seems to be at the origin of ring-down artifacts. Echographic manifestations of interstitial lung disease, whose genesis lies in the partial air loss of lobes and segments, are acoustic phenomena originating from variations in the tissue-fluid relationship of the lung. A correlation between anatomopathologic characteristics and structures of sonographic artifacts could allow more rapid and noninvasive diagnoses.