Project description:Lung ultrasound (LUS) is the latest amongst imaging techniques: it is a radiation-free, inexpensive, point-of-care tool that the clinician can use at the bedside. This review summarises the rapidly growing scientific evidence on LUS in neonatology, dividing it into descriptive and functional applications. We report the description of the main ultrasound features of neonatal respiratory disorders and functional applications of LUS aiming to help a clinical decision (such as surfactant administration, chest drainage etc). Amongst the functional applications, we propose SAFE (Sonographic Algorithm for liFe threatening Emergencies) as a standardised protocol for emergency functional LUS in critical neonates. SAFE has been funded by a specific grant issued by the European Society for Paediatric Research. Future potential development of LUS in neonatology might be linked to its quantitative evaluation: we also discuss available data and research directions using computer-aided diagnostic techniques. Finally, tools and opportunities to teach LUS and expand the research network are briefly presented.
Project description:Summary
1. Purpose and Objective: The purpose of this study is to test the feasibility of rapid acquisition of point of care 3D ultrasound in obtaining abdominal and/or pelvic images. The study will use a newly developed acquisition method and post-processing technique to create three dimensional image models of the abdomen and/or pelvis.
2. Study activities and population group. The study population will be a convenience sample of patients of any age presenting to the Emergency Department with complaints necessitating a clinical abdominal and/or pelvic imaging. The study intervention includes acquisition of research ultrasound images, which will not be used for clinical care, and comparison of these images with clinically obtained images. Other clinical data such as surgical and pathology reports will also be reviewed. 3.Data analysis and risk/safety issues. This is a pilot study intended to determine feasibility and to refine image reconstruction algorithms. Research images will be compared to clinical images. Comparison of research images with final diagnosis will also occur. The research intervention, an ultrasound exam, has no known safety risks. The only risk to subjects is loss of confidentiality.
This study is observational, not interventional, because the experimental ultrasound will be performed in all subjects and will not be used in the clinical care of patients (consequently, will not have the opportunity to affect clinical outcomes). Experimental images will be reviewed after completion of clinical care and will not be provided to the clinicians caring for the subjects. The investigators are not measuring the effect of the ultrasound examination on the subjects’ outcomes.
Project description:BackgroundThe increasing number of physicians that are trained in point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) warrants critical evaluation and improvement of current training methods. Performing POCUS is a complex task and it is unknown which (neuro)cognitive mechanisms are most important in competence development of this skill. This systematic review was conducted to identify determinants of POCUS competence development that can be used to optimize POCUS training.MethodsPubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Emcare, PsycINFO and ERIC databases were searched for studies measuring ultrasound (US) skills and aptitude. The papers were divided into three categories: "Relevant knowledge", "Psychomotor ability" and 'Visuospatial ability'. The 'Relevant knowledge' category was further subdivided in 'image interpretation', 'technical aspects' and 'general cognitive abilities'. Visuospatial ability was subdivided in visuospatial subcategories based on the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) Model of Intelligence v2.2, which includes visuospatial manipulation and visuospatial perception. Post-hoc, a meta-analysis was performed to calculate pooled correlations.Results26 papers were selected for inclusion in the review. 15 reported on relevant knowledge with a pooled coefficient of determination of 0.26. Four papers reported on psychomotor abilities, one reported a significant relationship with POCUS competence. 13 papers reported on visuospatial abilities, the pooled coefficient of determination was 0.16.ConclusionThere was a lot of heterogeneity in methods to assess possible determinants of POCUS competence and POCUS competence acquisition. This makes it difficult to draw strong conclusions on which determinants should be part of a framework to improve POCUS education. However, we identified two determinants of POCUS competence development: relevant knowledge and visuospatial ability. The content of relevant knowledge could not be retrieved in more depth. For visuospatial ability we used the CHC model as theoretical framework to analyze this skill. We could not point out psychomotor ability as a determinant of POCUS competence.
Project description:BACKGROUND:In 2011, the role of Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) was defined as one of the top five research priorities in physician-provided prehospital critical care and future research topics were proposed; the feasibility of prehospital POCUS, changes in patient management induced by POCUS and education of providers. This systematic review aimed to assess these three topics by including studies examining all kinds of prehospital patients undergoing all kinds of prehospital POCUS examinations and studies examining any kind of POCUS education in prehospital critical care providers. METHODS AND RESULTS:By a systematic literature search in MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases, we identified and screened titles and abstracts of 3264 studies published from 2012 to 2017. Of these, 65 studies were read in full-text for assessment of eligibility and 27 studies were ultimately included and assessed for quality by SIGN-50 checklists. No studies compared patient outcome with and without prehospital POCUS. Four studies of acceptable quality demonstrated feasibility and changes in patient management in trauma. Two studies of acceptable quality demonstrated feasibility and changes in patient management in breathing difficulties. Four studies of acceptable quality demonstrated feasibility, outcome prediction and changes in patient management in cardiac arrest, but also that POCUS may prolong pauses in compressions. Two studies of acceptable quality demonstrated that short (few hours) teaching sessions are sufficient for obtaining simple interpretation skills, but not image acquisition skills. Three studies of acceptable quality demonstrated that longer one- or two-day courses including hands-on training are sufficient for learning simple, but not advanced, image acquisition skills. Three studies of acceptable quality demonstrated that systematic educational programs including supervised examinations are sufficient for learning advanced image acquisition skills in healthy volunteers, but that more than 50 clinical examinations are required for expertise in a clinical setting. CONCLUSION:Prehospital POCUS is feasible and changes patient management in trauma, breathing difficulties and cardiac arrest, but it is unknown if this improves outcome. Expertise in POCUS requires extensive training by a combination of theory, hands-on training and a substantial amount of clinical examinations - a large part of these needs to be supervised.
Project description:IntroductionThere is limited access to life-saving antenatal ultrasound in rural and low-resource settings largely due to shortages in skilled staff. Studies have shown healthcare practitioners can be upskilled in PoCUS through focused training, offering a viable solution to this deficit. However, standards for training and competency assessment are unclear and regulation surrounding practice is lacking. We aimed to review published literature examining antenatal PoCUS training programs, comparing teaching approaches and study methodologies.MethodsA search of electronic databases EMBASE, MEDLINE and Google Scholar was conducted. Original research articles evaluating antenatal PoCUS training of healthcare professionals worldwide were identified for analysis. Articles with limited detail on the PoCUS training intervention and those describing comprehensive diagnostic training programs were excluded. Evaluations were compared against the Kirkpatrick Evaluation Framework (KEF).ResultsTwenty-seven studies were included from an initial search result of 484 articles. There was considerable heterogeneity between the PoCUS training programs described. Course duration ranged from 3 hours to 2 years, with 11 of the 27 studies delivering obstetric-exclusive content. 44% trained multidisciplinary groups of health professionals. Long-term follow-up training and skills assessments were lacking in over half of the reviewed studies. Study quality and reporting detail varied, but overall beneficial outcomes were reported with 3/4s of the studies reaching upper KEF levels 3 and 4.ConclusionPoCUS performed by upskilled healthcare professionals offers an attractive solution to the problem of inequitable access to antenatal ultrasound. A review of available literature highlighted a paucity of comparable high-quality studies needed to establish a stronger evidence base for antenatal PoCUS, and a need to standardise training and competency assessment. This review may inform educators, researchers and policy-makers on existing training formats and methodologies to assist in establishing best practice antenatal PoCUS training methods for safe service delivery by remote healthcare professionals.
Project description:The advent of affordable, portable ultrasound devices has led to increasing interest in the use of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) for the detection of pulmonary TB (PTB). We undertook a systematic review of the diagnostic accuracy of POCUS for PTB. Five databases were searched for articles published between January 2010 and June 2020. Risk of bias was assessed using QUADAS-2. Data on sensitivity and specificity of individual lung ultrasound findings were collected, with variable reference standards including PCR and sputum smear microscopy. Six of 3,919 reviewed articles were included: five in adults and one in children, with a total sample size of 564. Studies had high risk of bias in many domains. In adults, subpleural nodule and lung consolidation were the lung ultrasound findings with the highest sensitivities, ranging from 72.5% to 100.0% and 46.7% to 80.4%, respectively. Only one study reported specificity data. Variability in sensitivity may be due to variable reference standards or may imply operator dependence. There is insufficient evidence to judge the diagnostic accuracy of POCUS for PTB. There is also no consensus on the optimal protocols for acquiring and analysing POCUS images for PTB. New studies which minimise potential sources of bias are required to further assess the diagnostic accuracy of POCUS for PTB.
Project description:BackgroundPediatric emergency medicine (PEM) physicians have variably incorporated point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) into their practice. Prior guidelines describe the scope of POCUS practice for PEM physicians; however, consensus does not yet exist about which applications should be prioritized and taught as fundamental skills for PEM trainees. Members of the PEM POCUS Network (P2Network) conducted a consensus-building process to determine which applications to incorporate into PEM fellowship training.MethodsA multinational group of experts in PEM POCUS was recruited from the P2Network and greater PEM POCUS community if they met the following criteria: performed over 1,000 POCUS scans and had at least 3 years of experience teaching POCUS to PEM fellows, were a local academic POCUS leader, or completed a formal PEM POCUS fellowship. Experts rated 60 possible PEM POCUS applications for their importance to include as part of a PEM fellowship curriculum using a modified Delphi consensus-building technique.ResultsIn round 1, 66 of 92 (72%) participants responded to an e-mail survey of which 48 met expert criteria and completed the survey. Consensus was reached to include 18 items in a PEM fellowship curriculum and to exclude two items. The 40 remaining items and seven additional items were considered in round 2. Thirty-seven of 48 (77%) experts completed round 2 reaching consensus to include three more items and exclude five. The remaining 39 items did not reach consensus for inclusion or exclusion.ConclusionExperts reached consensus on 21 core POCUS applications to include in PEM fellowship curricula.
Project description:Background Circulatory failure is classified into four types of shock (obstructive, cardiogenic, distributive, and hypovolemic) that must be distinguished as each requires a different treatment. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is widely used in clinical practice for acute conditions, and several diagnostic protocols using POCUS for shock have been developed. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of POCUS in identifying the etiology of shock.MethodsWe conducted a systematic literature search of MEDLINE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Embase, Web of Science, Clinicaltrial.gov, European Union Clinical Trials Register, WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, and University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN-CTR) until June 15, 2022. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines and assessed study quality using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 tool. Meta-analysis was conducted to pool the diagnostic accuracy of POCUS for each type of shock. The study protocol was prospectively registered in UMIN-CTR (UMIN 000048025).ResultsOf the 1553 studies identified, 36 studies were full-text reviewed, and 12 studies with 1132 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.82 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.68-0.91] and 0.98 [95% CI 0.92-0.99] for obstructive shock, 0.78 [95% CI 0.56-0.91] and 0.96 [95% CI 0.92-0.98] for cardiogenic shock, 0.90 [95% CI 0.84-0.94] and 0.92 [95% CI 0.88-0.95] for hypovolemic shock, and 0.79 [95% CI 0.71-0.85] and 0.96 [95% CI 0.91-0.98] for distributive shock, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for each type of shock was approximately 0.95. The positive likelihood ratios for each type of shock were all greater than 10, especially 40 [95% CI 11-105] for obstructive shock. The negative likelihood ratio for each type of shock was approximately 0.2.Conclusions The identification of the etiology for each type of shock using POCUS was characterized by high sensitivity and positive likelihood ratios, especially for obstructive shock.
Project description:Artificial intelligence (AI) has gained prominence in medical imaging, particularly in obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), where ultrasound (US) is the preferred method. It is considered cost effective and easily accessible but is time consuming and hindered by the need for specialized training. To overcome these limitations, AI models have been proposed for automated plane acquisition, anatomical measurements, and pathology detection. This study aims to overview recent literature on AI applications in OB/GYN US imaging, highlighting their benefits and limitations. For the methodology, a systematic literature search was performed in the PubMed and Cochrane Library databases. Matching abstracts were screened based on the PICOS (Participants, Intervention or Exposure, Comparison, Outcome, Study type) scheme. Articles with full text copies were distributed to the sections of OB/GYN and their research topics. As a result, this review includes 189 articles published from 1994 to 2023. Among these, 148 focus on obstetrics and 41 on gynecology. AI-assisted US applications span fetal biometry, echocardiography, or neurosonography, as well as the identification of adnexal and breast masses, and assessment of the endometrium and pelvic floor. To conclude, the applications for AI-assisted US in OB/GYN are abundant, especially in the subspecialty of obstetrics. However, while most studies focus on common application fields such as fetal biometry, this review outlines emerging and still experimental fields to promote further research.
Project description:PurposeForeign body (FB) ingestions represent a common problem in children. History and physical examination are commonly not enough to diagnose a foreign body ingestion; therefore, conventional radiography is routinely used to detect them. Point-of-care ultrasound is widely used in the emergency department for several diagnostic applications but there are few articles describing the possibility to use point-of-care ultrasound to detect ingested foreign bodies, and the necessary training to get competent in this application. The main objective of this paper is to illustrate the use of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) to detect ingested foreign bodies. The secondary objective is to describe a limited training, necessary for emergency pediatricians, to obtain this skill.MethodsThis is a case series of eight pediatric patients who presented to the pediatric Emergency Department (ED), with suspected ingestion of FB, and were assessed with POCUS. Physician sonographers were two pediatricians and three residents in pediatrics working in two Italian Pediatric EDs. All sonographers participated in a 2-day POCUS workshop which included the most common pediatric POCUS applications.ResultsPOCUS, performed by emergency pediatricians who participated to a limited training, allowed to always identify the foreign bodies ingested.ConclusionsWe demonstrate that an appropriate and limited training allows pediatric emergency physicians to correctly identify foreign body in the esophagus or stomach. Point-of-care ultrasound in foreign body ingestion in the Emergency Department may allow to prioritize the escalation of care in children and it can contribute to reduce the time to endoscopic management when needed.