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Pleural Ultrasound

  • Chapter
Ultrasound in the Intensive Care Unit

Part of the book series: Respiratory Medicine ((RM))

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Abstract

Pleural disorders are common in critically ill patients, and the superficial location of the pleura makes ultrasound well suited for the bedside assessment of pleural effusions. Ultrasound has become the standard-of-care in the pre-procedural setting due to its ability to prevent complications related to thoracentesis or chest tube placement. Ultrasound evaluation of pneumothorax, although more complicated from a technical and interpretive standpoint, has been demonstrated to perform better than standard chest radiography. However, care must be taken to avoid confusing pneumothorax with mimics on pleural ultrasound. In this chapter, the application of ultrasound to both pleural effusion and pneumothorax is reviewed, including technical and interpretive factors as well as common pitfalls.

The original version of this chapter was revised. An erratum to this chapter can be found at DOI 10.1007/978-1-4939-1723-5_17

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Providence VA Medical Center, 830 Chalkstone Ave Building 35, Room 222, Providence, RI, 02908, USA

    Samuel K. Evans M.D.

  2. Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence VA Medical Center, 830 Chalkstone Ave., Office 158 L, Providence, RI, 02908, USA

    Matthew Jankowich M.D.

Authors
  1. Samuel K. Evans M.D.
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  2. Matthew Jankowich M.D.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Samuel K. Evans M.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Providence VA Medical Center, Warren Alpert Medical School Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

    Matthew Jankowich

  2. Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, Warren Alpert Medical School Brown University, Pawtucket, Rhode Island, USA

    Eric Gartman

Electronic Supplementary Material

Video 10.1

Movie 1 simultaneous B-mode and M-mode images of normal lung sliding, obtained with linear probe (MP4 3,379 KB)

Video 10.2

Absent lung sliding (above) and M-mode evidence (below) of pneumothorax (stratosphere or barcode sign) (MP4 1,689 KB)

Video 10.3

Lung point seen during tidal breathing in a patient with pneumothorax. As the lung expands, an intact pleural interface is re-established, lung sliding is restored, and faint comet-tail artifacts can be seen (MP4 1,977 KB)

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Evans, S.K., Jankowich, M. (2015). Pleural Ultrasound. In: Jankowich, M., Gartman, E. (eds) Ultrasound in the Intensive Care Unit. Respiratory Medicine. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1723-5_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1723-5_10

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-1722-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-1723-5

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