Diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound (US) in pleural chest syndromes: evidence from systematic reviews
| Number of studies | Population, unit of analysis | US features, comparator | Reference standard | Prevalence and number | Sensitivity | Specificity | |
| Pneumothorax | |||||||
| Wilkerson 2010 [25] | 4 studies No meta-analysis | Blunt trauma, By patient (3 studies) By hemithorax (1 study) | Not stated CXR | Chest CT or release of air | 21.5–30.1% of 497 patients 11.5% of 218 hemithoraces | US: 86–98% CXR: 28–75% | US: 97–100% CXR: 100% |
| Ding 2011 [24] | 20 studies | Trauma, post-lung biopsy, critically ill By hemithorax# | Absent lung sliding, absent comets, lung point CXR | Chest CT or clinical findings and release of air | 13.2% of 7569 hemithoraces | US: 88% CXR: 52% | US: 99% CXR: 100% |
| Alrajhi 2012 [27] | 8 studies | Trauma, iatrogenic By patient# | Absent lung sliding, absent comets CXR | Chest CT or release of air | Not stated (unable to calculate) 1048 patients | US: 90.9% CXR: 50.2% | US: 98.2% CXR: 99.4% |
| Alrajab 2013 [28] | 13 studies | Trauma, post-lung biopsy, critically ill By hemithorax | Not defined CXR | Chest CT | 22.5% of 3028 hemithoraces | US: 78.6% CXR: 39.8% | US: 98.4% CXR: 99.3% |
| Ebrahimi 2014 [29] | 28 studies | Trauma, iatrogenic, critically ill By patient# | Not stated CXR | Chest CT | 20% of 5314 patients | US: 87% CXR: 46% | US: 99% CXR: 100% |
| Pleural effusion | |||||||
| Grimberg 2010 [30] | 4 studies | Trauma, heart failure, ICU patients with ARDS By patient | Not stated CXR | CT or drainage | 27.6% of 924 patients | US: 92–96% CXR: 24–100% | US: 88–100% CXR: 85–100% |
| Yousefifard 2016 [31] | 12 studies | Trauma, heart failure, critically ill, surgical patients By patient | Not stated CXR | CT, US, CXR | 41.5% of 1554 patients | US: 94% CXR: 51% | US: 98% CXR: 91% |
CXR: chest radiography; CT: computed tomography; ICU: intensive care unit; ARDS: acute respiratory distress syndrome. #: Included and pooled studies reporting the alternative unit of analysis, by either doubling the number of patients or halving the number of hemithoraces in those studies.