Table 1.
Lung Ultrasound and Chest X-ray sensitivity and specificity in many lung diseases
| US | CXR | |
|---|---|---|
| Pulmonary edema | US abnormalities may precede those of radiography and can suggest strongly, in agreement with clinical ad laboratory data the pulmonary edema, with a sensitivity and specificity of 97% and 95%, respectively | CXR showed a sensitivity of 36%, specificity of 90%, positive predictive value of 29% and negative predictive value of 92% while these results combined with clinical examination findings became 50%, 84%, 28% and 93% respectively |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)/Asthma | For COPD and asthma (considered together for purposes of simplicity), the normal profile has a 97% specificity and a 89% sensitivity | CXR is poorly sensitive and specific (if not in advanced cases), for its two-dimensional projective nature, for a correct diagnosis of COPD and/or asthma |
| Pulmonary embolism | The presence of subpleural consolidations, along with other signs, has a sensitivity of 87% and specificity of 81.8% in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism | Chest radiography is effective in revealing other causes of acute chest symptoms, such as effusion or pulmonary edema, but a normal chest radiograph cannot be used to exclude pulmonary embolism |
| Pneumothorax | The overall sensitivity and specificity of US in the detection of pneumothorax are 78.6–100% and 96.5–100% | Portable chest radiography has a sensitivity of 19.8–31.8% and specificity of 99.3–100% |
| Pneumonia | Sensitivity and specificity of US for detection of pneumonia have been reported as 86–97% and 89–94%, respectively | Sensitivity of plain chest radiography in detection of pneumonia has been reported as 38–76% |
| Pleural effusion | US may detect 5–20 mL of pleural fluid with an overall sensitivity of 89–100% and specificity of 96–100% | Supine chest radiography may reveal abnormality when the amount of fluid reaches 175–525 mL, which is higher than that for upright chest radiography |