Role of Chest Sonography in Assessment of Children with Interstitial Lung Disease Compared to HRCT and Pulmonary Function Test

Abstract

LUS has a growing reputation for being a powerful bedside tool that is superior to physical examination and chest radiographs in the detection of ILD. However, the routine use of US for bed side diagnosis of ILD remains low in the current clinical practice. This study was conducted on 20 children with established diagnosis of interstitial lung disease. Their diagnosis was based on clinical presentation, pulmonary function test and HRCT findings. They were recruited from outpatient pediatric chest clinic of children’s hospital, Ain shams university hospitals. Their age ranged between 4-15 years with mean age 10.15 ± 3.27 years. For all these patients, history, clinical examination, spirometeric pulmonary function test, chest x-ray, HRCT and lung ultrasound were done. Transthoracic ultrasonography was correlated with HRCT as a concurrent gold standard in assessment of ILD and pulmonary function test to measure the ability and diagnostic accuracy of lung ultrasound as bedside test and noninvasive technique in assessment of severity of interstitial lung disease. Plain chest x-ray showed positive findings in 11 patients with sensitivity 55%. 6 patients (30%) chest x-ray showed Hyperinflation, 3 patients (15%) diffuse reticular pattern and 2 patients (10%) honeycombing appearance.