Download PDF
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Radiol Imaging 2012; 22(04): 279-283
DOI: 10.4103/0971-3026.111480
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Role of transabdominal ultrasound of lung bases and follow-up in premature neonates with respiratory distress soon after birth

Chirag Kamal Ahuja
Department of Radiodiagnosis, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh
,
Akshay Kumar Saxena
Department of Radiodiagnosis, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh
,
Kushaljeet Singh Sodhi
Department of Radiodiagnosis, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh
,
Praveen Kumar
Department of Pediatrics (Neonatology Division), Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh
,
Niranjan Khandelwal
Department of Radiodiagnosis, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh
› Author Affiliations Source of Support: Nill.
› Further Information
  PDF Download Permissions and Reprints

Abstract

Background: Chest radiography has been the traditional method of diagnostic evaluation of patients of hyaline membrane disease (HMD). Lung sonography (USG) has been lately explored as an alternative modality. Aims: To explore the application of transabdominal USG of lung bases (TASL) in the evaluation of HMD in premature neonates with respiratory distress soon after birth. Settings and Design: Tertiary care institutional setup. Study duration-18 months. Follow-up-variable, up to 1 month. Prospective descriptive study. Materials and Methods: Eighty-eight consecutive patients admitted in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with gestational age <32 weeks having respiratory distress within 6 h of birth were enrolled. The diagnosis of HMD was made if the patient had negative gastric shake test and/or suggestive chest radiograph. TASL was performed in all patients within the first 24 h of life and biweekly subsequently. USG was interpreted as normal, HMD pattern, or broncho-pulmonary dysplasia (BPD) pattern. Biweekly follow-up was done for patients showing HMD till normalization of the sonographic HMD pattern, development of the sonographic BPD pattern, or death/discharge of the neonate from the hospital. Results and Conclusions: TASL showed 85.7% sensitivity, 75% specificity, 88.88% positive predictive value, and 69.2% negative predictive value for the diagnosis of HMD. The abnormal sonographic findings on day 14 had 94.1% accuracy for prediction of eventual occurrence of clinical BPD. TASL is complementary to chest radiograph in the diagnosis of HMD. It is also useful for the early prediction of BPD with the potential of reducing the cumulative radiation dose to these neonates.

Keywords

Hyperechogenicity - neonates - respiratory distress syndrome - transabdominal - ultrasound


Publication History

Article published online:
04 October 2021

© 2012. Indian Radiological Association. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Private Ltd.
A-12, Second Floor, Sector -2, NOIDA -201301, India

 

  • References

  • 1 Kinsella JP, Greenough A, Abman SH. BPD. Lancet 2006;367:1421-31.
  • 2 Guyer B, Hoyert DL, Martin JA, Ventura SJ, MacDorman MF, Strobino DM. Annual summary of vital statistics--1998. Pediatrics 1999;104:1229-46.
  • 3 Jobe AH, Bancalari E. Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2001;163:1723-9.
  • 4 Toce SS, Farrell PM, Leavitt LA, Samuels DP, Edwards DK. Clinical and roentgenographic scoring systems for assessing BPD. Am J Dis Child 1984;138:581-5.
  • 5 Maconochie I, Greenough A, Yuksel B, Page A, Karani J. A chest radiograph scoring system to predict chronic oxygen dependency in low birth weight infants. Early Hum Dev 1991;26:37-43.
  • 6 Greenough A, Kavvadia V, Johnson AH, Calvert S, Peacock J, Karani J. A simple chest radiograph score to predict chronic lung disease in prematurely born infants. Br J Radiol 1999;72:530-3.
  • 7 Yuksel B, Greenough A, Karani J. Prediction of chronic lung disease from the chest radiograph appearance at seven days of age. Acta Paediatr 1993;82:944-7.
  • 8 Avni EF, Braude P, Pardou A, Matos C. Hyaline membrane disease in the newborn: Diagnosis by ultrasound. Pediatr Radiol 1990;20:143-6.
  • 9 Bober K, Swietliñski J. Diagnostic utility of ultra USG for respiratory distress syndrome in neonates. Med Sci Monit 2006;12:440-6.
  • 10 Avni EF, Cassart M, de Maertelaer V, Rypens F, Vermeylen D, Gevenois PA. Sonographic prediction of chronic lung disease in the premature undergoing mechanical ventilation. Pediatr Radiol 1996;26:463-9.
  • 11 Pieper CH, Smith J, Brand EJ. The value of ultrasound examination of the lungs in predicting BPD. Pediatr Radiol 2004;34:227-31.
  • 12 Chaudhari R, Deodhar J, Kadam S, Bavdekar A, Pandit A. Gastric aspirate shake test for diagnosis of surfactant deficiency in neonates with respiratory distress. Ann Trop Paediatr 2005;25:205-9.
  • 13 Singh M, Paul VK, Bhakoo ON. Neonatal nomenclature and data collection-National neonatology forum, New Delhi, 1989. p. 63-74.
  • 14 Copetti R, Cattarossi L, Macagno F, Violino M, Furlan R. Lung Ultrasound in respiratory distress syndrome: A useful tool for early diagnosis. Neonatology 2008;94:52-9.