%0 Journal Article
%T Does Radar Technology Support the Diagnosis of Pneumothorax? PneumoScan¡ªA Diagnostic Point-of-Care Tool
%A T. Lindner
%A M. Conze
%A C. E. Albers
%A B. A. Leidel
%A P. Levy
%A C. Kleber
%A M. De Moya
%A A. Exadaktylos
%A C. Stoupis
%J Emergency Medicine International
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/489056
%X Background. A nonrecognized pneumothorax (PTX) may become a life-threatening tension PTX. A reliable point-of-care diagnostic tool could help in reduce this risk. For this purpose, we investigated the feasibility of the use of the PneumoScan, an innovative device based on micropower impulse radar (MIR). Patients and Methods. addition to a standard diagnostic protocol including clinical examination, chest X-ray (CXR), and computed tomography (CT), 24 consecutive patients with chest trauma underwent PneumoScan testing in the shock trauma room to exclude a PTX. Results. The application of the PneumoScan was simple, quick, and reliable without functional disorder. Clinical examination and CXR each revealed one and PneumoScan three out of altogether four PTXs (sensitivity 75%, specificity 100%, positive predictive value 100%, and negative predictive value 95%). The undetected PTX did not require intervention. Conclusion. The PneumoScan as a point-of-care device offers additional diagnostic value in patient management following chest trauma. Further studies with more patients have to be performed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the device. 1. Introduction Thoracic trauma is frequent in multiple trauamatized patients. According to the current annual report of the TraumaRegister of the German Trauma Society (DGU) 56% of 10766 documented severe trauma patients with Injury Severity Score (ISS) ¡Ý 16 points showed thoracic injuries with an Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) ¡Ý 3 points [1]. Beside rib fractures, lung contusion and PTX are the main consequences of blunt chest trauma. In hospital, significant PTX is detected between 37 and 59% of the cases [2]. Primary routine diagnostics in shock trauma room include a clinical examination and conventional CXR. However, a significant percentage of PTX maintains undetected by these methods and is first distinguished by CT scan. The number of occult PTXs range from 2 to 15% [3¨C5], in some studies even 50% [6]. Therefore the ¡°S-3 guideline on treatment of patients with severe and multiple injuries of the DGU¡± recommends expanding radiologic diagnostics by thoracic ultrasound (eFAST) when suspecting thoracic trauma. If significant clinical signs are present a thoracic CT scan with i.v. contrast agent is advised, alternatively even primary [2]. CXR, and CT scan only are available in hospital and ultrasound is not used regularly in the prehospital setting. Therefore, only mechanism of injury, and clinical examination with assessment of ventilation can be consulted for diagnosing or excluding PTX. Due to low sensitivity
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/emi/2013/489056/