Chest Ultrasound in Assessment of Different Pleural Lesions

Abstract

Pleural ultrasound is a safe, well-established, cheap and readily available technique. Pleural ultrasound was a reliable tool in evaluation of different aspects of pleural growth and neoplasia, detection of the extent of spread to the chest wall and diaphragm in neoplastic lesions and predicting the nature of the pleural effusion through detecting internal echoes and septations. However, some inherent limitations hinders detection of all masses and nodules, especially those of the mediastinal pleura. This makes pleural ultrasonography a problem solver examination in cases of anterior, posterior and diaphragmatic pleural lesions inconclusive by CT, where US can be better in detecting the site, extent and characterization of effusion. Finally, we recommend that ultrasound examination should always be used in conjunction with standard x-ray or CT scan of the chest as it is not able in itself to provide definitive diagnosis.