Ultrasonographic examination in chest disease

Ultrasonographic examination is not widely applied to chest disease, but is may give useful information when the acoustic window for a lesion exist. We did perform ultrasound examination in 68 cases of chest disease. 1. The cases of pleural diseases was predominant; pleural effusion 35 cases, pleural metastatic tumor 2 case, mesothelioma 2 cases and fibrous thickening 1 case, total 40 cases. It was useful to differentiate pleural effusion and fibrous thickening or parenchymal lesion simulating pleural disease, to localize the optimal aspiration site for a loculated empyema, to detect pleural bumorhidden by effusion such as metastatic tumor or mesothelioma. 2. 15 cases of parenchymal lesion and 2 cases of extra pleural mass was examined. The echo pattern of consolidation and atelectasis shows typical multiple tubular streaks within the echogenic area. The echogenicity of the peripheral mass due to primary bronchogenic carcinoma, parenchymal or extrapleural metastatic tumor and granuloma were compared. 3. In the cases of pleural or parenchymal cystic lesions, such as loculated empyema or lung abscess, because of strong reverberation artifact from posterior border of the lesion, the prediction of cystic and solid lesion is sometimes difficult. 4. In 7 cases of mediastinal lesion, cystic lesion show free echo and posterior enhancement. In contrast, solid or fat component show characteristic echo pattern. 5. In the cases of juxta diaphragmatic lesion, sonogram can confirm the underlying intraabdominal pathology, in this case subphrenic abscess