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Mento F, Perpenti M, Barcellona G, Perrone T, Demi L. Lung Ultrasound Spectroscopy Applied to the Differential Diagnosis of Pulmonary Diseases: An In Vivo Multicenter Clinical Study. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ULTRASONICS, FERROELECTRICS, AND FREQUENCY CONTROL 2024; 71:1217-1232. [PMID: 39236134 DOI: 10.1109/tuffc.2024.3454956] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/07/2024]
Abstract
Lung ultrasound (LUS) is an important imaging modality to assess the state of the lung surface. However, current LUS approaches are based on subjective interpretation of imaging artifacts, which results in poor specificity as quantitative evaluation lacks. The latter could be improved by adopting LUS spectroscopy of vertical artifacts. Indeed, parameterizing these artifacts with native frequency, bandwidth, and total intensity ( [Formula: see text]) already showed potentials in differentiating pulmonary fibrosis (PF). In this study, we acquired radio frequency (RF) data from 114 patients. These data (representing the largest LUS RF dataset worldwide) were acquired by utilizing a multifrequency approach, implemented with an ULtrasound Advanced Open Platform (ULA-OP). Convex (CA631) and linear (LA533) probes (Esaote, Florence, Italy) were utilized to acquire RF data at three (2, 3, and 4 MHz), and four (3, 4, 5, and 6 MHz) imaging frequencies. A multifrequency analysis was conducted on vertical artifacts detected in patients having cardiogenic pulmonary edema (CPE), pneumonia, or PF. These artifacts were characterized by the three abovementioned parameters, and their mean values were used to project each patient into a feature space having up to three dimensions. Binary classifiers were used to evaluate the performance of these three mean features in differentiating patients affected by CPE, pneumonia, and PF. Acquisitions of multifrequency data performed with linear probe lead to accuracies up to 85.43% in the differential diagnosis of these diseases (convex probes' maximum accuracy was 74.51%). Moreover, the results showed high potentials of mean [Formula: see text] (by itself or combined with other features) in improving LUS specificity.
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2
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Dashti A, Roshankhah R, Lye T, Blackwell J, Montgomery S, Egan T, Mamou J, Muller M. Lung quantitative ultrasound to stage and monitor interstitial lung diseases. Sci Rep 2024; 14:16350. [PMID: 39014011 PMCID: PMC11252144 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-66390-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2024] [Accepted: 07/01/2024] [Indexed: 07/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Chronic interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) require frequent point-of-care monitoring. X-ray-based methods lack resolution and are ionizing. Chest computerized tomographic (CT) scans are expensive and provide more radiation. Conventional ultrasound can detect severe lung damage via vertical artifacts (B-lines). However, this information is not quantitative, and the appearance of B-lines is operator- and system-dependent. Here we demonstrate novel ultrasound-based biomarkers to assess severity of ILDs. Lung alveoli scatter ultrasound waves, leading to a complex acoustic signature, which is affected by changes in alveolar density due to ILDs. We exploit ultrasound scattering in the lung and combine quantitative ultrasound (QUS) parameters, to develop ultrasound-based biomarkers that significantly correlate (p = 1e-4 for edema and p = 3e-7 for fibrosis) to the severity of pulmonary fibrosis and edema in rodent lungs. These innovative QUS biomarkers will be very significant for monitoring severity of chronic ILDs and response to treatment, especially in this new era of miniaturized and highly portable ultrasound devices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Azadeh Dashti
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA
| | - Roshan Roshankhah
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA
| | - Theresa Lye
- Topcon Advanced Biomedical Imaging Laboratory, Topcon Healthcare, Oakland, NJ, 07436, USA
- Department of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10022, USA
| | - John Blackwell
- Department of Surgery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | | | - Thomas Egan
- Department of Surgery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA.
| | - Jonathan Mamou
- Department of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, 10022, USA.
| | - Marie Muller
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA.
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA.
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3
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Zhang Q, Song R, Hang J, Wei S, Zhu Y, Zhang G, Ding B, Ye X, Guo X, Zhang D, Wu P, Lin H, Tu J. A lung disease diagnosis algorithm based on 2D spectral features of ultrasound RF signals. ULTRASONICS 2024; 140:107315. [PMID: 38603903 DOI: 10.1016/j.ultras.2024.107315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2024] [Revised: 03/19/2024] [Accepted: 04/06/2024] [Indexed: 04/13/2024]
Abstract
Lung diseases are commonly diagnosed based on clinical pathological indications criteria and radiological imaging tools (e.g., X-rays and CT). During a pandemic like COVID-19, the use of ultrasound imaging devices has broadened for emergency examinations by taking their unique advantages such as portability, real-time detection, easy operation and no radiation. This provides a rapid, safe, and cost-effective imaging modality for screening lung diseases. However, the current pulmonary ultrasound diagnosis mainly relies on the subjective assessments of sonographers, which has high requirements for the operator's professional ability and clinical experience. In this study, we proposed an objective and quantifiable algorithm for the diagnosis of lung diseases that utilizes two-dimensional (2D) spectral features of ultrasound radiofrequency (RF) signals. The ultrasound data samples consisted of a set of RF signal frames, which were collected by professional sonographers. In each case, a region of interest of uniform size was delineated along the pleural line. The standard deviation curve of the 2D spatial spectrum was calculated and smoothed. A linear fit was applied to the high-frequency segment of the processed data curve, and the slope of the fitted line was defined as the frequency spectrum standard deviation slope (FSSDS). Based on the current data, the method exhibited a superior diagnostic sensitivity of 98% and an accuracy of 91% for the identification of lung diseases. The area under the curve obtained by the current method exceeded the results obtained that interpreted by professional sonographers, which indicated that the current method could provide strong support for the clinical ultrasound diagnosis of lung diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qi Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Modern Acoustics (MOE), Department of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructure, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Renjie Song
- Key Laboratory of Modern Acoustics (MOE), Department of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructure, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Jing Hang
- Department of Ultrasound, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China.
| | - Siqi Wei
- Department of Ultrasound, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China
| | - Yifei Zhu
- Key Laboratory of Modern Acoustics (MOE), Department of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructure, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Guofeng Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Modern Acoustics (MOE), Department of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructure, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Bo Ding
- Zhuhai Ecare Electronics Science & Technology Co., Ltd., Zhuhai 519041, China
| | - Xinhua Ye
- Department of Ultrasound, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China
| | - Xiasheng Guo
- Key Laboratory of Modern Acoustics (MOE), Department of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructure, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Dong Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Modern Acoustics (MOE), Department of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructure, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Pingping Wu
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Public Project Audit, Nanjing Audit University, Nanjing 211815, China
| | - Han Lin
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Public Project Audit, Nanjing Audit University, Nanjing 211815, China.
| | - Juan Tu
- Key Laboratory of Modern Acoustics (MOE), Department of Physics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructure, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
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Łyźniak P, Świętoń D, Szurowska E. Lung ultrasound in a nutshell. Lines, signs, some applications, and misconceptions from a radiologist's point of view. Part 2. Pol J Radiol 2024; 89:e211-e224. [PMID: 38783909 PMCID: PMC11112417 DOI: 10.5114/pjr.2024.139286] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2024] [Accepted: 03/11/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024] Open
Abstract
In recent years, lung ultrasound (LUS) has developed rapidly, and it is gaining growing popularity in various scenarios. There are constant attempts to introduce it to new fields. In addition, knowledge regarding lung and LUS has been augmented by the recent COVID-19 pandemics. In the first part of this review we discuss lines, signs and pheno-mena, profiles, some applications, and misconceptions. An aim of the second part of the review is mainly to discuss some advanced applications of LUS, including lung elastography, lung spectroscopy, colour and spectral Doppler, contrast-enhanced ultrasound of lung, speckled tracking of pleura, quantification of pulmonary oedema, predicting success of talc pleurodesis, asthma exacerbations, detecting chest wall invasion by tumours, lung biopsy, estimating pleural effusion volume, and predicting mechanical ventilatory weaning outcome. For this purpose, we reviewed literature concerning LUS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Piotr Łyźniak
- 2 Department of Radiology, University Clinical Centre in Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Dominik Świętoń
- 2 Department of Radiology, University Clinical Centre in Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Edyta Szurowska
- 2 Department of Radiology, University Clinical Centre in Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
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5
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Khan U, Afrakhteh S, Mento F, Mert G, Smargiassi A, Inchingolo R, Tursi F, Macioce VN, Perrone T, Iacca G, Demi L. Low-complexity lung ultrasound video scoring by means of intensity projection-based video compression. Comput Biol Med 2024; 169:107885. [PMID: 38141447 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2023.107885] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Revised: 11/27/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 12/25/2023]
Abstract
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, efforts have been made towards semi-quantitative analysis of lung ultrasound (LUS) data to assess the patient's condition. Several methods have been proposed in this regard, with a focus on frame-level analysis, which was then used to assess the condition at the video and prognostic levels. However, no extensive work has been done to analyze lung conditions directly at the video level. This study proposes a novel method for video-level scoring based on compression of LUS video data into a single image and automatic classification to assess patient's condition. The method utilizes maximum, mean, and minimum intensity projection-based compression of LUS video data over time. This enables to preserve hyper- and hypo-echoic data regions, while compressing the video down to a maximum of three images. The resulting images are then classified using a convolutional neural network (CNN). Finally, the worst predicted score given among the images is assigned to the corresponding video. The results show that this compression technique can achieve a promising agreement at the prognostic level (81.62%), while the video-level agreement remains comparable with the state-of-the-art (46.19%). Conclusively, the suggested method lays down the foundation for LUS video compression, shifting from frame-level to direct video-level analysis of LUS data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Umair Khan
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Sajjad Afrakhteh
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Federico Mento
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Gizem Mert
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Andrea Smargiassi
- Pulmonary Medicine Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Riccardo Inchingolo
- Pulmonary Medicine Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | | | | | - Tiziano Perrone
- Dipartimento di Emergenza ed Urgenza, Humanitas Gavazzeni Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy
| | - Giovanni Iacca
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Libertario Demi
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Trento, Italy.
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Smargiassi A, Zanforlin A, Tursi F, Soldati G, Inchingolo R. Trick or Trap? Reply to Vertical Artifacts as Lung Ultrasound Signs. JOURNAL OF ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE : OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE 2024; 43:215-216. [PMID: 37732895 DOI: 10.1002/jum.16337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2023] [Accepted: 09/02/2023] [Indexed: 09/22/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Smargiassi
- UOC Pneumologia, Dipartimento Neuroscienze, Organi di Senso e Torace, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Alessandro Zanforlin
- Service of Pulmonology, Health District of Bolzano (SABES-ASDAA), Bolzano-Bozen, Italy
- Lehrkrankenhaus der Paracelsus Medizinischen Privatuniversität, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Francesco Tursi
- Pulmonary Medicine Unit, Codogno Hospital, Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale Lodi, Codogno, Italy
| | - Gino Soldati
- Ippocrate Medical Center, Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, Lucca, Italy
| | - Riccardo Inchingolo
- UOC Pneumologia, Dipartimento Neuroscienze, Organi di Senso e Torace, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
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Mento F, Perini M, Malacarne C, Demi L. Ultrasound multifrequency strategy to estimate the lung surface roughness, in silico and in vitro results. ULTRASONICS 2023; 135:107143. [PMID: 37647701 DOI: 10.1016/j.ultras.2023.107143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2023] [Revised: 07/28/2023] [Accepted: 08/21/2023] [Indexed: 09/01/2023]
Abstract
Lung ultrasound (LUS) is an important imaging modality to assess the state of the lung surface. Nevertheless, LUS is limited to the visual evaluation of imaging artifacts, especially the vertical ones. These artifacts are observed in pathologies characterized by a reduction of dimensions of air-spaces (alveoli). In contrast, there exist pathologies, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), in which an enlargement of air-spaces can occur, which causes the lung surface to behave essentially as a perfect reflector, thus not allowing ultrasound penetration. This characteristic high reflectivity could be exploited to characterize the lung surface. Specifically, air-spaces of different sizes could cause the lung surface to have a different roughness, whose estimation could provide a way to assess the state of the lung surface. In this study, we present a quantitative multifrequency approach aiming at estimating the lung surface's roughness by measuring image intensity variations along the lung surface as a function of frequency. This approach was tested both in silico and in vitro, and it showed promising results. For the in vitro experiments, radiofrequency (RF) data were acquired from a novel experimental model. The results showed consistency between in silico and in vitro experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Mento
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 9, 38123 Trento, Italy
| | - Matteo Perini
- Polo Meccatronica (ProM), Via Fortunato Zeni 8, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
| | - Ciro Malacarne
- Polo Meccatronica (ProM), Via Fortunato Zeni 8, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
| | - Libertario Demi
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 9, 38123 Trento, Italy.
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Tinè M, Daverio M, Semenzato U, Cocconcelli E, Bernardinello N, Damin M, Saetta M, Spagnolo P, Balestro E. Pleural clinic: where thoracic ultrasound meets respiratory medicine. Front Med (Lausanne) 2023; 10:1289221. [PMID: 37886366 PMCID: PMC10598727 DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1289221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2023] [Accepted: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 10/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Thoracic ultrasound (TUS) has become an essential procedure in respiratory medicine. Due to its intrinsic safety and versatility, it has been applied in patients affected by several respiratory diseases both in intensive care and outpatient settings. TUS can complement and often exceed stethoscope and radiological findings, especially in managing pleural diseases. We hereby aimed to describe the establishment, development, and optimization in a large, tertiary care hospital of a pleural clinic, which is dedicated to the evaluation and monitoring of patients with pleural diseases, including, among others, pleural effusion and/or thickening, pneumothorax and subpleural consolidation. The clinic was initially meant to follow outpatients undergoing medical thoracoscopy. In this scenario, TUS allowed rapid and regular assessment of these patients, promptly diagnosing recurrence of pleural effusion and other complications that could be appropriately managed. Over time, our clinic has rapidly expanded its initial indications thus becoming the place to handle more complex respiratory patients in collaboration with, among others, thoracic surgeons and oncologists. In this article, we critically describe the strengths and pitfalls of our "pleural clinic" and propose an organizational model that results from a synergy between respiratory physicians and other professionals. This model can inspire other healthcare professionals to develop a similar organization based on their local setting.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Elisabetta Balestro
- Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
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Ostras O, Shponka I, Pinton G. Ultrasound imaging of lung disease and its relationship to histopathology: An experimentally validated simulation approach. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2023; 154:2410-2425. [PMID: 37850835 PMCID: PMC10586875 DOI: 10.1121/10.0021870] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2023] [Revised: 09/23/2023] [Accepted: 09/26/2023] [Indexed: 10/19/2023]
Abstract
Lung ultrasound (LUS) is a widely used technique in clinical lung assessment, yet the relationship between LUS images and the underlying disease remains poorly understood due in part to the complexity of the wave propagation physics in complex tissue/air structures. Establishing a clear link between visual patterns in ultrasound images and underlying lung anatomy could improve the diagnostic accuracy and clinical deployment of LUS. Reverberation that occurs at the lung interface is complex, resulting in images that require interpretation of the artifacts deep in the lungs. These images are not accurate spatial representations of the anatomy due to the almost total reflectivity and high impedance mismatch between aerated lung and chest wall. Here, we develop an approach based on the first principles of wave propagation physics in highly realistic maps of the human chest wall and lung to unveil a relationship between lung disease, tissue structure, and its resulting effects on ultrasound images. It is shown that Fullwave numerical simulations of ultrasound propagation and histology-derived acoustical maps model the multiple scattering physics at the lung interface and reproduce LUS B-mode images that are comparable to clinical images. However, unlike clinical imaging, the underlying tissue structure model is known and controllable. The amount of fluid and connective tissue components in the lung were gradually modified to model disease progression, and the resulting changes in B-mode images and non-imaging reverberation measures were analyzed to explain the relationship between pathological modifications of lung tissue and observed LUS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oleksii Ostras
- Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514, USA
| | - Ihor Shponka
- Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine, Dnipro State Medical University, Dnipro, Ukraine
| | - Gianmarco Pinton
- Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514, USA
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Leote J, Muxagata T, Guerreiro D, Francisco C, Dias H, Loução R, Bacariza J, Gonzalez F. Influence of Ultrasound Settings on Laboratory Vertical Artifacts. ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE & BIOLOGY 2023; 49:1901-1908. [PMID: 37150622 DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2023.03.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2022] [Revised: 03/23/2023] [Accepted: 03/24/2023] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The aim of the work described here was to analyze the relationship between the change in ultrasound (US) settings and the vertical artifacts' number, visual rating and signal intensity METHODS: An in vitro phantom consisting of a damp sponge and gelatin mix was created to simulate vertical artifacts. Furthermore, several US parameters were changed sequentially (i.e., frequency, dynamic range, line density, gain, power and image enhancement) and after image acquisition. Five US experts rated the artifacts for number and quality. In addition, a vertical artifact visual score was created to determine the higher artifact rating ("optimal") and the lower artifact rating ("suboptimal"). Comparisons were made between the tested US parameters and baseline recordings. RESULTS The expert intraclass correlation coefficient for the number of vertical artifacts was 0.694. The parameters had little effect on the "optimal" vertical artifacts but changed their number. Dynamic range increased the number of discernible vertical artifacts to 3 from 36 to 102 dB. CONCLUSION The intensity did not correlate with the visual rating score. Most of the available US parameters did not influence vertical artifacts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joao Leote
- Critical Care Department, Hospital Garcia de Orta EPE, Almada, Portugal; Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.
| | - Tiago Muxagata
- Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Diana Guerreiro
- Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Cláudia Francisco
- Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Hermínia Dias
- Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Ricardo Loução
- Center of Neurosurgery, University Hospital of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Jacobo Bacariza
- Critical Care Department, Hospital Garcia de Orta EPE, Almada, Portugal
| | - Filipe Gonzalez
- Critical Care Department, Hospital Garcia de Orta EPE, Almada, Portugal
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Demi L, Wolfram F, Klersy C, De Silvestri A, Ferretti VV, Muller M, Miller D, Feletti F, Wełnicki M, Buda N, Skoczylas A, Pomiecko A, Damjanovic D, Olszewski R, Kirkpatrick AW, Breitkreutz R, Mathis G, Soldati G, Smargiassi A, Inchingolo R, Perrone T. New International Guidelines and Consensus on the Use of Lung Ultrasound. JOURNAL OF ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE : OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE 2023; 42:309-344. [PMID: 35993596 PMCID: PMC10086956 DOI: 10.1002/jum.16088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 77.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2022] [Revised: 06/28/2022] [Accepted: 07/31/2022] [Indexed: 05/02/2023]
Abstract
Following the innovations and new discoveries of the last 10 years in the field of lung ultrasound (LUS), a multidisciplinary panel of international LUS experts from six countries and from different fields (clinical and technical) reviewed and updated the original international consensus for point-of-care LUS, dated 2012. As a result, a total of 20 statements have been produced. Each statement is complemented by guidelines and future developments proposals. The statements are furthermore classified based on their nature as technical (5), clinical (11), educational (3), and safety (1) statements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Libertario Demi
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer ScienceUniversity of TrentoTrentoItaly
| | - Frank Wolfram
- Department of Thoracic and Vascular SurgerySRH Wald‐Klinikum GeraGeraGermany
| | - Catherine Klersy
- Unit of Clinical Epidemiology and BiostatisticsFondazione IRCCS Policlinico S. MatteoPaviaItaly
| | - Annalisa De Silvestri
- Unit of Clinical Epidemiology and BiostatisticsFondazione IRCCS Policlinico S. MatteoPaviaItaly
| | | | - Marie Muller
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace EngineeringNorth Carolina State UniversityRaleighNorth CarolinaUSA
| | - Douglas Miller
- Department of RadiologyMichigan MedicineAnn ArborMichiganUSA
| | - Francesco Feletti
- Department of Diagnostic ImagingUnit of Radiology of the Hospital of Ravenna, Ausl RomagnaRavennaItaly
- Department of Translational Medicine and for RomagnaUniversità Degli Studi di FerraraFerraraItaly
| | - Marcin Wełnicki
- 3rd Department of Internal Medicine and CardiologyMedical University of WarsawWarsawPoland
| | - Natalia Buda
- Department of Internal Medicine, Connective Tissue Disease and GeriatricsMedical University of GdanskGdanskPoland
| | - Agnieszka Skoczylas
- Geriatrics DepartmentNational Institute of Geriatrics, Rheumatology and RehabilitationWarsawPoland
| | - Andrzej Pomiecko
- Clinic of Pediatrics, Hematology and OncologyUniversity Clinical CenterGdańskPoland
| | - Domagoj Damjanovic
- Heart Center Freiburg University, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Faculty of MedicineUniversity of FreiburgFreiburgGermany
| | - Robert Olszewski
- Department of Gerontology, Public Health and DidacticsNational Institute of Geriatrics, Rheumatology and RehabilitationWarsawPoland
| | - Andrew W. Kirkpatrick
- Departments of Critical Care Medicine and SurgeryUniversity of Calgary and the TeleMentored Ultrasound Supported Medical Interventions Research GroupCalgaryCanada
| | - Raoul Breitkreutz
- FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management gGmbHDepartment of Health and SocialEssenGermany
| | - Gebhart Mathis
- Emergency UltrasoundAustrian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine and BiologyViennaAustria
| | - Gino Soldati
- Diagnostic and Interventional Ultrasound UnitValledel Serchio General HospitalLuccaItaly
| | - Andrea Smargiassi
- Pulmonary Medicine Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical SciencesFondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCSRomeItaly
- Department of Internal Medicine, IRCCS San Matteo Hospital FoundationUniversity of PaviaPaviaItaly
| | - Riccardo Inchingolo
- Pulmonary Medicine Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical SciencesFondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCSRomeItaly
- Department of Internal Medicine, IRCCS San Matteo Hospital FoundationUniversity of PaviaPaviaItaly
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12
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Smargiassi A, Zanforlin A, Perrone T, Buonsenso D, Torri E, Limoli G, Mossolani EE, Tursi F, Soldati G, Inchingolo R. Vertical Artifacts as Lung Ultrasound Signs: Trick or Trap? Part 2- An Accademia di Ecografia Toracica Position Paper on B-Lines and Sonographic Interstitial Syndrome. JOURNAL OF ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE : OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE 2023; 42:279-292. [PMID: 36301623 DOI: 10.1002/jum.16116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2022] [Revised: 09/07/2022] [Accepted: 10/11/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Although during the last few years the lung ultrasound (LUS) technique has progressed substantially, several artifacts, which are currently observed in clinical practice, still need a solid explanation of the physical phenomena involved in their origin. This is particularly true for vertical artifacts, conventionally known as B-lines, and for their use in clinical practice. A wider consensus and a deeper understanding of the nature of these artifactual phenomena will lead to a better classification and a shared nomenclature, and, ultimately, result in a more objective correlation between anatomo-pathological data and clinical scenarios. The objective of this review is to collect and document the different signs and artifacts described in the history of chest ultrasound, with a particular focus on vertical artifacts (B-lines) and sonographic interstitial syndrome (SIS). By reviewing the possible physical and anatomical interpretation of the signs and artifacts proposed in the literature, this work also aims to bring order to the available studies and to present the AdET (Accademia di Ecografia Toracica) viewpoint in terms of nomenclature and clinical approach to the SIS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Smargiassi
- UOC Pneumologia, Dipartimento Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Alessandro Zanforlin
- Servizio Pneumologico Aziendale, Azienda Sanitaria dell'Alto Adige, Bolzano, Italy
| | - Tiziano Perrone
- Emergency Medicine Department, Humanitas Gavazzeni, Bergamo, Italy
| | - Danilo Buonsenso
- Department of Woman and Child Health and Public Health, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Elena Torri
- Emergency Medicine Department, Humanitas Gavazzeni, Bergamo, Italy
| | | | | | - Francesco Tursi
- Pulmonary Medicine Unit, Codogno Hospital, Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale Lodi, Codogno, Italy
| | - Gino Soldati
- Ippocrate Medical Center, Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, Lucca, Italy
| | - Riccardo Inchingolo
- UOC Pneumologia, Dipartimento Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
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13
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Custode LL, Mento F, Tursi F, Smargiassi A, Inchingolo R, Perrone T, Demi L, Iacca G. Multi-objective automatic analysis of lung ultrasound data from COVID-19 patients by means of deep learning and decision trees. Appl Soft Comput 2023; 133:109926. [PMID: 36532127 PMCID: PMC9746028 DOI: 10.1016/j.asoc.2022.109926] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2021] [Revised: 10/26/2022] [Accepted: 12/08/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
COVID-19 raised the need for automatic medical diagnosis, to increase the physicians' efficiency in managing the pandemic. Among all the techniques for evaluating the status of the lungs of a patient with COVID-19, lung ultrasound (LUS) offers several advantages: portability, cost-effectiveness, safety. Several works approached the automatic detection of LUS imaging patterns related COVID-19 by using deep neural networks (DNNs). However, the decision processes based on DNNs are not fully explainable, which generally results in a lack of trust from physicians. This, in turn, slows down the adoption of such systems. In this work, we use two previously built DNNs as feature extractors at the frame level, and automatically synthesize, by means of an evolutionary algorithm, a decision tree (DT) that aggregates in an interpretable way the predictions made by the DNNs, returning the severity of the patients' conditions according to a LUS score of prognostic value. Our results show that our approach performs comparably or better than previously reported aggregation techniques based on an empiric combination of frame-level predictions made by DNNs. Furthermore, when we analyze the evolved DTs, we discover properties about the DNNs used as feature extractors. We make our data publicly available for further development and reproducibility.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Federico Mento
- Dept. of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Italy
| | | | - Andrea Smargiassi
- Dept. of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Riccardo Inchingolo
- Dept. of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Tiziano Perrone
- Dept. of Internal Medicine, IRCCS San Matteo, Pavia, Italy,Emergency Dept., Humanitas Gavazzeni, Bergamo, Italy
| | - Libertario Demi
- Dept. of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Italy
| | - Giovanni Iacca
- Dept. of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Italy,Corresponding author
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14
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Mento F, Khan U, Faita F, Smargiassi A, Inchingolo R, Perrone T, Demi L. State of the Art in Lung Ultrasound, Shifting from Qualitative to Quantitative Analyses. ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE & BIOLOGY 2022; 48:2398-2416. [PMID: 36155147 PMCID: PMC9499741 DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2022.07.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2022] [Revised: 07/12/2022] [Accepted: 07/15/2022] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Lung ultrasound (LUS) has been increasingly expanding since the 1990s, when the clinical relevance of vertical artifacts was first reported. However, the massive spread of LUS is only recent and is associated with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, during which semi-quantitative computer-aided techniques were proposed to automatically classify LUS data. In this review, we discuss the state of the art in LUS, from semi-quantitative image analysis approaches to quantitative techniques involving the analysis of radiofrequency data. We also discuss recent in vitro and in silico studies, as well as research on LUS safety. Finally, conclusions are drawn highlighting the potential future of LUS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Mento
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Umair Khan
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Francesco Faita
- Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council, Pisa, Italy
| | - Andrea Smargiassi
- Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Sciences, Pulmonary Medicine Unit, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Riccardo Inchingolo
- Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Sciences, Pulmonary Medicine Unit, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Libertario Demi
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Trento, Italy.
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15
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Demi L, Mento F, Di Sabatino A, Fiengo A, Sabatini U, Macioce VN, Robol M, Tursi F, Sofia C, Di Cienzo C, Smargiassi A, Inchingolo R, Perrone T. Lung Ultrasound in COVID-19 and Post-COVID-19 Patients, an Evidence-Based Approach. JOURNAL OF ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE : OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE 2022; 41:2203-2215. [PMID: 34859905 PMCID: PMC9015439 DOI: 10.1002/jum.15902] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2021] [Revised: 10/22/2021] [Accepted: 11/19/2021] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Worldwide, lung ultrasound (LUS) was utilized to assess coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Often, imaging protocols were however defined arbitrarily and not following an evidence-based approach. Moreover, extensive studies on LUS in post-COVID-19 patients are currently lacking. This study analyses the impact of different LUS imaging protocols on the evaluation of COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 LUS data. METHODS LUS data from 220 patients were collected, 100 COVID-19 positive and 120 post-COVID-19. A validated and standardized imaging protocol based on 14 scanning areas and a 4-level scoring system was implemented. We utilized this dataset to compare the capability of 5 imaging protocols, respectively based on 4, 8, 10, 12, and 14 scanning areas, to intercept the most important LUS findings. This to evaluate the optimal trade-off between a time-efficient imaging protocol and an accurate LUS examination. We also performed a longitudinal study, aimed at investigating how to eventually simplify the protocol during follow-up. Additionally, we present results on the agreement between AI models and LUS experts with respect to LUS data evaluation. RESULTS A 12-areas protocol emerges as the optimal trade-off, for both COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 patients. For what concerns follow-up studies, it appears not to be possible to reduce the number of scanning areas. Finally, COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 LUS data seem to show differences capable to confuse AI models that were not trained on post-COVID-19 data, supporting the hypothesis of the existence of LUS patterns specific to post-COVID-19 patients. CONCLUSIONS A 12-areas acquisition protocol is recommended for both COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 patients, also during follow-up.
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Affiliation(s)
- Libertario Demi
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer ScienceUniversity of TrentoTrentoItaly
| | - Federico Mento
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer ScienceUniversity of TrentoTrentoItaly
| | - Antonio Di Sabatino
- Department of Internal Medicine, IRCCS San Matteo Hospital FoundationUniversity of PaviaPaviaItaly
| | - Anna Fiengo
- Department of Internal Medicine, IRCCS San Matteo Hospital FoundationUniversity of PaviaPaviaItaly
| | - Umberto Sabatini
- Department of Internal Medicine, IRCCS San Matteo Hospital FoundationUniversity of PaviaPaviaItaly
| | | | - Marco Robol
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer ScienceUniversity of TrentoTrentoItaly
| | | | - Carmelo Sofia
- Pulmonary Medicine Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical SciencesFondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCSRomeItaly
| | - Chiara Di Cienzo
- Pulmonary Medicine Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical SciencesFondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCSRomeItaly
| | - Andrea Smargiassi
- Pulmonary Medicine Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical SciencesFondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCSRomeItaly
| | - Riccardo Inchingolo
- Pulmonary Medicine Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical SciencesFondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCSRomeItaly
| | - Tiziano Perrone
- Department of Internal Medicine, IRCCS San Matteo Hospital FoundationUniversity of PaviaPaviaItaly
- Emergency DepartmentHumanitas GavazzeniBergamoItaly
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16
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Kameda T, Kamiyama N, Taniguchi N. The effect of attenuation inside the acoustic traps on the configuration of vertical artifacts in lung ultrasound: an experimental study with simple models. J Med Ultrason (2001) 2022; 49:545-553. [PMID: 35930175 PMCID: PMC9362371 DOI: 10.1007/s10396-022-01244-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2022] [Accepted: 06/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Purpose Using simple experimental models for lung ultrasound, we evaluated the relationship of the attenuation inside the sources of vertical artifacts to the echo intensity and attenuation of artifacts. Methods As sources of artifacts, we made 10 different hemispherical gel objects with two different mediums (pure agar or agar containing graphite with an attenuation coefficient of 0.5 dB/cm · MHz) and five different diameters (3.6, 5.6, 7.5, 9.5, or 11.4 mm). Ten of each hemispherical gel object were prepared for the statistical analyses. Each object was placed onto a chest wall phantom as the plane of the hemisphere was placed in an upward position. The echo intensity and attenuation of the artifact generated from each object was measured and compared. Results For all sizes, the intensity and attenuation of the artifacts in the objects made of agar containing graphite were significantly lower and larger, respectively, than those in the objects made of pure agar. In the objects containing graphite, the intensity decreased when the frequency was changed from 5 to 9 MHz. Conclusion Based on this experiment, assessing the intensity and attenuation of vertical artifacts may help estimate the physical composition of sources of vertical artifacts in lung ultrasound. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10396-022-01244-0.
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Affiliation(s)
- Toru Kameda
- Department of Ultrasound Medicine, Saiseikai Utsunomiya Hospital, 911-1 Takebayashi, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, 321-0974, Japan.
| | - Naohisa Kamiyama
- Ultrasound Division, GE Healthcare Japan, 4-7-127 Asahigaoka, Hino, Tokyo, 191-8503, Japan
| | - Nobuyuki Taniguchi
- Department of Ultrasound Medicine, Saiseikai Utsunomiya Hospital, 911-1 Takebayashi, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, 321-0974, Japan
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17
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Gori L, Amendolea A, Buonsenso D, Salvadori S, Supino MC, Musolino AM, Adamoli P, Coco AD, Trobia GL, Biagi C, Lucherini M, Leonardi A, Limoli G, Giampietri M, Sciacca TV, Morello R, Tursi F, Soldati G. Prognostic Role of Lung Ultrasound in Children with Bronchiolitis: Multicentric Prospective Study. J Clin Med 2022; 11:4233. [PMID: 35887997 PMCID: PMC9316238 DOI: 10.3390/jcm11144233] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2022] [Revised: 07/12/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
There is increasing recognition of the role of lung ultrasound (LUS) to assess bronchiolitis severity in children. However, available studies are limited to small, single-center cohorts. We aimed to assess a qualitative and quantitative LUS protocol to evaluate the course of bronchiolitis at diagnosis and during follow-up. This is a prospective, multicenter study. Children with bronchiolitis were stratified according to clinical severity and underwent four LUS evaluations at set intervals. LUS was classified according to four models: (1) positive/negative; (2) main LUS pattern (normal/interstitial/consolidative/mixed) (3) LUS score; (4) LUS score with cutoff. Two hundred and thirty-three children were enrolled. The baseline LUS was significantly associated with bronchiolitis severity, using both the qualitative (positive/negative LUS p < 0.001; consolidated/normal LUS pattern or mixed/normal LUS p < 0.001) and quantitative models (cutoff score > 9 p < 0.001; LUS mean score p < 0.001). During follow-up, all LUS results according to all LUS models improved (p < 0.001). Better cut off value was declared at a value of >9 points. Conclusions: Our study supports the role of a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative LUS protocol for the identification of severe cases of bronchiolitis and provides data on the evolution of lung aeration during follow-up.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Gori
- Pediatric Unit, Valle del Serchio General Hospital, 55051 Barga, Italy
| | | | - Danilo Buonsenso
- Department of Woman and Child Health and Public Health, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A, Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy;
| | | | - Maria Chiara Supino
- Department of Pediatric Emergency, Bambin Gesù Children’s Hospital IRCCS, 00165 Rome, Italy; (M.C.S.); (A.M.M.)
| | - Anna Maria Musolino
- Department of Pediatric Emergency, Bambin Gesù Children’s Hospital IRCCS, 00165 Rome, Italy; (M.C.S.); (A.M.M.)
| | - Paolo Adamoli
- Pediatric Unit, Moriggia Pelascini Hospital, Gravedona et Uniti, 22015 Como, Italy; (P.A.); (A.D.C.)
| | - Alfina Domenica Coco
- Pediatric Unit, Moriggia Pelascini Hospital, Gravedona et Uniti, 22015 Como, Italy; (P.A.); (A.D.C.)
| | - Gian Luca Trobia
- Pediatric and Pediatric Emergency Room Unit, Cannizzaro Emergency Hospital, 95126 Catania, Italy; (G.L.T.); (T.V.S.)
| | - Carlotta Biagi
- Pediatric Emergency Unit, Sant’Orsola Hospital IRCCS, 40138 Bologna, Italy;
| | - Marco Lucherini
- Pediatric Unit, Nottola Hospital, Montepulciano, 53045 Siena, Italy;
| | - Alberto Leonardi
- Pediatric Clinic, Department of Surgical and Biomedical Sciences, University of Perugia, 06132 Perugia, Italy;
| | | | - Matteo Giampietri
- Department of Maternal and Child Health, Division of Neonatology and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, S. Chiara Hospital, University of Pisa, 56100 Pisa, Italy;
| | - Tiziana Virginia Sciacca
- Pediatric and Pediatric Emergency Room Unit, Cannizzaro Emergency Hospital, 95126 Catania, Italy; (G.L.T.); (T.V.S.)
| | - Rosa Morello
- Department of Woman and Child Health and Public Health, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A, Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy;
| | - Francesco Tursi
- Pneumology Unit, Civil Hospital, Codogno, 26845 Lodi, Italy;
| | - Gino Soldati
- Diagnostic and Interventional Ultrasound Unit, Valle del Serchio General Hospital, Castelnuovo Garfagnana, 55032 Lucca, Italy;
| | - Ecobron Group
- Pediatric Unit and Pediatric Emergency Unit, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Policlinico San Marco, University of Catania, 95121 Catania, Italy
- Pneumology Unit, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A, Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
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18
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Image Human Thorax Using Ultrasound Traveltime Tomography with Supervised Descent Method. APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/app12136763] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The change of acoustic velocity in the human thorax reflects the functional status of the respiratory system. Imaging the thorax’s acoustic velocity distribution can be used to monitor the respiratory system. In this paper, the feasibility of imaging the human thorax using ultrasound traveltime tomography with a supervised descent method (SDM) is studied. The forward modeling is computed using the shortest path ray tracing (SPR) method. The training model is composed of homogeneous acoustic velocity background and a high-velocity rectangular block moving in the domain of interest (DoI). The average descent direction is learned from the training set. Numerical experiments are conducted to verify the method’s feasibility. Normal thorax model experiment proves that SDM traveltime tomography can efficiently reconstruct thorax acoustic velocity distribution. Numerical experiments based on synthetic thorax model of pleural effusion and pneumothorax show that SDM traveltime tomography has good generalization ability and can detect the change of acoustic velocity in human thorax. This method might be helpful for the diagnosis and evaluation of respiratory diseases.
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19
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Camporesi A, Gemma M, Buonsenso D, Ferrario S, Mandelli A, Pessina M, Diotto V, Rota E, Raso I, Fiori L, Campari A, Izzo F. Lung Ultrasound Patterns in Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C)-Characteristics and Prognostic Value. CHILDREN (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 9:children9070931. [PMID: 35883915 PMCID: PMC9322869 DOI: 10.3390/children9070931] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2022] [Revised: 05/31/2022] [Accepted: 06/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Objective and design: Following COVID-19 infection, children can develop an hyperinflammatory state termed Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). Lung Ultrasound (LUS) features of COVID-19 in children have been described, but data describing the LUS findings of MIS-C are limited. The aim of this retrospective observational study conducted between 1 March and 31 December 2020, at a tertiary pediatric hospital in Milano, is to describe LUS patterns in patients with MIS-C and to verify correlation with illness severity. The secondary objective is to evaluate concordance of LUS with Chest X-ray (CXR). Methodology: Clinical and laboratory data were collected for all patients (age 0−18 years) admitted with MIS-C, as well as LUS and CXR patterns at admission. PICU admission, needed for respiratory support and inotrope administration, hospital, and PICU length of stay, were considered as outcomes and evaluated in the different LUS patterns. An agreement between LUS and CXR evaluation was assessed with Cohen’ k. Results: 24 children, who had a LUS examination upon admission, were enrolled. LUS pattern of subpleural consolidations < or > 1 cm with or without pleural effusion were associated with worse Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction at admission and need for inotropes. Subpleural consolidations < 1 cm were also associated with PICU length of stay. Agreement of CXR with LUS for consolidations and effusion was slight. Conclusion: LUS pattern of subpleural consolidations and consolidations with or without pleural effusion are predictors of disease severity; under this aspect, LUS can be used at admission to stratify risk of severe disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Camporesi
- Department of Pediatric Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Children’s Hospital “Vittore Buzzi”, 20154 Milano, Italy; (S.F.); (A.M.); (M.P.); (V.D.); (E.R.); (F.I.)
- Correspondence:
| | - Marco Gemma
- Department of NeuroAnesthesia and NeuroIntensive Care, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, 20154 Milano, Italy;
| | - Danilo Buonsenso
- Department of Woman and Child Health and Public Health, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “A. Gemelli”, 00168 Roma, Italy;
| | - Stefania Ferrario
- Department of Pediatric Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Children’s Hospital “Vittore Buzzi”, 20154 Milano, Italy; (S.F.); (A.M.); (M.P.); (V.D.); (E.R.); (F.I.)
| | - Anna Mandelli
- Department of Pediatric Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Children’s Hospital “Vittore Buzzi”, 20154 Milano, Italy; (S.F.); (A.M.); (M.P.); (V.D.); (E.R.); (F.I.)
| | - Matteo Pessina
- Department of Pediatric Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Children’s Hospital “Vittore Buzzi”, 20154 Milano, Italy; (S.F.); (A.M.); (M.P.); (V.D.); (E.R.); (F.I.)
| | - Veronica Diotto
- Department of Pediatric Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Children’s Hospital “Vittore Buzzi”, 20154 Milano, Italy; (S.F.); (A.M.); (M.P.); (V.D.); (E.R.); (F.I.)
| | - Elena Rota
- Department of Pediatric Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Children’s Hospital “Vittore Buzzi”, 20154 Milano, Italy; (S.F.); (A.M.); (M.P.); (V.D.); (E.R.); (F.I.)
| | - Irene Raso
- Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Children’s Hospital “Vittore Buzzi”, 20154 Milano, Italy;
| | - Laura Fiori
- Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital “Vittore Buzzi”, 20154 Milano, Italy;
| | - Alessandro Campari
- Department of Pediatric Radiology, Children’s Hospital “Vittore Buzzi”, 20154 Milano, Italy;
| | - Francesca Izzo
- Department of Pediatric Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Children’s Hospital “Vittore Buzzi”, 20154 Milano, Italy; (S.F.); (A.M.); (M.P.); (V.D.); (E.R.); (F.I.)
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20
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Khan U, Mento F, Nicolussi Giacomaz L, Trevisan R, Smargiassi A, Inchingolo R, Perrone T, Demi L. Deep Learning-Based Classification of Reduced Lung Ultrasound Data From COVID-19 Patients. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ULTRASONICS, FERROELECTRICS, AND FREQUENCY CONTROL 2022; 69:1661-1669. [PMID: 35320098 DOI: 10.1109/tuffc.2022.3161716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
The application of lung ultrasound (LUS) imaging for the diagnosis of lung diseases has recently captured significant interest within the research community. With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many efforts have been made to evaluate LUS data. A four-level scoring system has been introduced to semiquantitatively assess the state of the lung, classifying the patients. Various deep learning (DL) algorithms supported with clinical validations have been proposed to automate the stratification process. However, no work has been done to evaluate the impact on the automated decision by varying pixel resolution and bit depth, leading to the reduction in size of overall data. This article evaluates the performance of DL algorithm over LUS data with varying pixel and gray-level resolution. The algorithm is evaluated over a dataset of 448 LUS videos captured from 34 examinations of 20 patients. All videos are resampled by a factor of 2, 3, and 4 of original resolution, and quantized to 128, 64, and 32 levels, followed by score prediction. The results indicate that the automated scoring shows negligible variation in accuracy when it comes to the quantization of intensity levels only. Combined effect of intensity quantization with spatial down-sampling resulted in a prognostic agreement ranging from 73.5% to 82.3%.These results also suggest that such level of prognostic agreement can be achieved over evaluation of data reduced to 32 times of its original size. Thus, laying foundation to efficient processing of data in resource constrained environments.
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21
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Soldati G, Smargiassi A, Perrone T, Torri E, Mento F, Demi L, Inchingolo R. LUS for COVID-19 Pneumonia: Flexible or Reproducible Approach? JOURNAL OF ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE : OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE 2022; 41:525-526. [PMID: 33885169 PMCID: PMC8250952 DOI: 10.1002/jum.15726] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2021] [Accepted: 03/11/2021] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Gino Soldati
- Diagnostic and Interventional Ultrasound UnitValle del Serchio General HospitalLuccaItaly
| | - Andrea Smargiassi
- Pulmonary Medicine Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical SciencesFondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCSRomeItaly
| | - Tiziano Perrone
- Department of Internal Medicine and Therapeutics, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San MatteoUniversity of PaviaPaviaItaly
| | - Elena Torri
- Emergency DepartmentHumanitas GavazzeniBergamoItaly
| | - Federico Mento
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, Ultrasound Laboratory TrentoUniversity of TrentoTrentoItaly
| | - Libertario Demi
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, Ultrasound Laboratory TrentoUniversity of TrentoTrentoItaly
| | - Riccardo Inchingolo
- Pulmonary Medicine Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical SciencesFondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCSRomeItaly
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22
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The Mechanisms Underlying Vertical Artifacts in Lung Ultrasound and Their Proper Utilization for the Evaluation of Cardiogenic Pulmonary Edema. Diagnostics (Basel) 2022; 12:diagnostics12020252. [PMID: 35204343 PMCID: PMC8870861 DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics12020252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2021] [Revised: 01/14/2022] [Accepted: 01/18/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The recent advances in lung ultrasound for the diagnosis of cardiogenic pulmonary edema are outstanding; however, the mechanism of vertical artifacts known as B-lines used for the diagnosis has not yet been fully elucidated. The theory of “acoustic trap” is useful when considering the generation of vertical artifacts. Basic research in several studies supports the theory. Published studies with pilot experiments indicate that clarification of the relationship between the length and intensity of vertical artifacts and physical or acoustic composition of sources may be useful for differentiating cardiogenic pulmonary edema from lung diseases. There is no international consensus with regard to the optimal settings of ultrasound machines even though their contribution to the configuration of vertical artifacts is evident. In the clinical setting, the configuration is detrimentally affected by the use of spatial compound imaging, the placement of the focal point at a deep level, and the use of multiple focus. Simple educational materials using a glass microscope slide also show the non-negligible impact of the ultrasound machine settings on the morphology of vertical artifacts.
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Mento F, Demi L. Dependence of lung ultrasound vertical artifacts on frequency, bandwidth, focus and angle of incidence: An in vitro study. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2021; 150:4075. [PMID: 34972265 DOI: 10.1121/10.0007482] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2021] [Accepted: 11/05/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Lung ultrasound (LUS) is nowadays widely adopted by clinicians to evaluate the state of the lung surface. However, being mainly based on the evaluation of vertical artifacts, whose genesis is still unclear, LUS is affected by qualitative and subjective analyses. Even though semi-quantitative approaches supported by computer aided methods can reduce subjectivity, they do not consider the dependence of vertical artifacts on imaging parameters, and could not be classified as fully quantitative. They are indeed mainly based on scoring LUS images, reconstructed with standard clinical scanners, through the sole evaluation of visual patterns, whose visualization depends on imaging parameters. To develop quantitative techniques is therefore fundamental to understand which parameters influence the vertical artifacts' intensity. In this study, we quantitatively analyzed the dependence of nine vertical artifacts observed in a thorax phantom on four parameters, i.e., center frequency, focal point, bandwidth, and angle of incidence. The results showed how the vertical artifacts are significantly affected by these four parameters, and confirm that the center frequency is the most impactful parameter in artifacts' characterization. These parameters should hence be carefully considered when developing a LUS quantitative approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Mento
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 9, 38123, Trento, Italy
| | - Libertario Demi
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 9, 38123, Trento, Italy
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Kameda T, Kamiyama N, Taniguchi N. Simple Experimental Models for Elucidating the Mechanism Underlying Vertical Artifacts in Lung Ultrasound: Tools for Revisiting B-Lines. ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE & BIOLOGY 2021; 47:3543-3555. [PMID: 34556371 DOI: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2021.08.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2021] [Revised: 08/23/2021] [Accepted: 08/24/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Using simple experimental models, we evaluated the generation, configuration and echo intensity of vertical artifacts by varying the point or plane of contact and height of objects that correspond to sources of vertical artifacts in the subpleural space. We used an ultrasound gel spot to imitate the source and a block of bacon as a chest wall phantom. As the size of the point of contact between the gel spot on the polypropylene sheet and the phantom decreased by peeling the sheet, a vertical artifact measuring ≤1 cm was generated and/or extended deeper, finally reaching 10 cm in depth. Next, objects of different shapes made using gel balls were used to observe the generation of artifacts and measure and compare the echo intensity. For a given shape, the intensity was markedly higher in one model with the point of contact than in the other model with the plane of contact. With the same point or plane of contact, the echo intensity was higher in the taller model. The size of the point or plane of contact and height of the source were observed to be key factors in the generation, length and echo intensity of the artifacts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Toru Kameda
- Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Jichi Medical University, Shimotsuke, Tochigi, Japan.
| | | | - Nobuyuki Taniguchi
- Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Jichi Medical University, Shimotsuke, Tochigi, Japan
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Roshankhah R, Karbalaeisadegh Y, Greer H, Mento F, Soldati G, Smargiassi A, Inchingolo R, Torri E, Perrone T, Aylward S, Demi L, Muller M. Investigating training-test data splitting strategies for automated segmentation and scoring of COVID-19 lung ultrasound images. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2021; 150:4118. [PMID: 34972274 PMCID: PMC8684042 DOI: 10.1121/10.0007272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2021] [Revised: 09/21/2021] [Accepted: 09/23/2021] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
Ultrasound in point-of-care lung assessment is becoming increasingly relevant. This is further reinforced in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, where rapid decisions on the lung state must be made for staging and monitoring purposes. The lung structural changes due to severe COVID-19 modify the way ultrasound propagates in the parenchyma. This is reflected by changes in the appearance of the lung ultrasound images. In abnormal lungs, vertical artifacts known as B-lines appear and can evolve into white lung patterns in the more severe cases. Currently, these artifacts are assessed by trained physicians, and the diagnosis is qualitative and operator dependent. In this article, an automatic segmentation method using a convolutional neural network is proposed to automatically stage the progression of the disease. 1863 B-mode images from 203 videos obtained from 14 asymptomatic individual,14 confirmed COVID-19 cases, and 4 suspected COVID-19 cases were used. Signs of lung damage, such as the presence and extent of B-lines and white lung areas, are manually segmented and scored from zero to three (most severe). These manually scored images are considered as ground truth. Different test-training strategies are evaluated in this study. The results shed light on the efficient approaches and common challenges associated with automatic segmentation methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roshan Roshankhah
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27606, USA
| | | | | | - Federico Mento
- Ultrasound Laboratory, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Gino Soldati
- Azienda USL Toscana nord ovest Sede di Lucca, Diagnostic and Interventional Ultrasound Unit Lucca, Toscana, Italy
| | - Andrea Smargiassi
- Pulmonary Medicine Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS. Roma, Lazio, Italy
| | - Riccardo Inchingolo
- Pulmonary Medicine Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS. Roma, Lazio, Italy
| | | | - Tiziano Perrone
- Department of Internal Medicine, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, San Matteo, Pavia, Italy
| | | | | | - Marie Muller
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27606, USA
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Liu Z, Tang X, Zhu Z, Ma X, Zhou W, Guan W. Recent Advances in Fluorescence Imaging of Pulmonary Fibrosis in Animal Models. Front Mol Biosci 2021; 8:773162. [PMID: 34796202 PMCID: PMC8592921 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2021.773162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2021] [Accepted: 10/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a lung disease that may cause impaired gas exchange and respiratory failure while being difficult to treat. Rapid, sensitive, and accurate detection of lung tissue and cell changes is essential for the effective diagnosis and treatment of PF. Currently, the commonly-used high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) imaging has been challenging to distinguish early PF from other pathological processes in the lung structure. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using hyperpolarized gases is hampered by the higher cost to become a routine diagnostic tool. As a result, the development of new PF imaging technologies may be a promising solution. Here, we summarize and discuss recent advances in fluorescence imaging as a talented optical technique for the diagnosis and evaluation of PF, including collagen imaging, oxidative stress, inflammation, and PF-related biomarkers. The design strategies of the probes for fluorescence imaging (including multimodal imaging) of PF are briefly described, which can provide new ideas for the future PF-related imaging research. It is hoped that this review will promote the translation of fluorescence imaging into a clinically usable assay in PF.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zongwei Liu
- Department of Respiratory Medicine, Lianyungang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Lianyungang, China
| | - Xiaofang Tang
- Green Catalysis Center, College of Chemistry, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Zongling Zhu
- Department of Respiratory Medicine, Pukou District Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Pukou Branch of Nanjing Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China
| | - Xunxun Ma
- Department of Respiratory Medicine, Lianyungang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Lianyungang, China
| | - Wenjuan Zhou
- Department of Chemistry, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Weijiang Guan
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, College of Chemistry, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China
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Ostras O, Soulioti DE, Pinton G. Diagnostic ultrasound imaging of the lung: A simulation approach based on propagation and reverberation in the human body. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2021; 150:3904. [PMID: 34852581 DOI: 10.1121/10.0007273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2021] [Accepted: 09/23/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Although ultrasound cannot penetrate a tissue/air interface, it images the lung with high diagnostic accuracy. Lung ultrasound imaging relies on the interpretation of "artifacts," which arise from the complex reverberation physics occurring at the lung surface but appear deep inside the lung. This physics is more complex and less understood than conventional B-mode imaging in which the signal directly reflected by the target is used to generate an image. Here, to establish a more direct relationship between the underlying acoustics and lung imaging, simulations are used. The simulations model ultrasound propagation and reverberation in the human abdomen and at the tissue/air interfaces of the lung in a way that allows for direct measurements of acoustic pressure inside the human body and various anatomical structures, something that is not feasible clinically or experimentally. It is shown that the B-mode images beamformed from these acoustical simulations reproduce primary clinical features that are used in diagnostic lung imaging, i.e., A-lines and B-lines, with a clear relationship to known underlying anatomical structures. Both the oblique and parasagittal views are successfully modeled with the latter producing the characteristic "bat sign," arising from the ribs and intercostal part of the pleura. These simulations also establish a quantitative link between the percentage of fluid in exudative regions and the appearance of B-lines, suggesting that the B-mode may be used as a quantitative imaging modality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oleksii Ostras
- Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514, USA
| | - Danai Eleni Soulioti
- Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514, USA
| | - Gianmarco Pinton
- Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514, USA
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Ciuca IM, Dediu M, Marc MS, Lukic M, Horhat DI, Pop LL. Lung Ultrasound Is More Sensitive for Hospitalized Consolidated Pneumonia Diagnosis Compared to CXR in Children. CHILDREN (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2021; 8:659. [PMID: 34438550 PMCID: PMC8391397 DOI: 10.3390/children8080659] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2021] [Revised: 07/16/2021] [Accepted: 07/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Pneumonia is the leading cause of death among children; thus, a correct early diagnosis would be ideal. The imagistic diagnosis still uses chest X-ray (CXR), but lung ultrasound (LUS) proves to be reliable for pneumonia diagnosis. The aim of our study was to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of LUS compared to CXR in consolidated pneumonia. METHODS Children with clinical suspicion of bacterial pneumonia were screened by LUS for pneumonia, followed by CXR. The agreement relation between LUS and CXR regarding the detection of consolidation was evaluated by Cohen's kappa test. RESULTS A total of 128 patients with clinical suspicion of pneumonia were evaluated; 74 of them were confirmed by imagery and biological inflammatory markers. The highest frequency of pneumonia was in the 0-3 years age group (37.83%). Statistical estimation of the agreement between LUS and CXR in detection of the consolidation found an almost perfect agreement, with a Cohen's kappa coefficient of K = 0.89 ± 0.04 SD, p = 0.000. Sensitivity of LUS was superior to CXR in detection of consolidations. CONCLUSION Lung ultrasound is a reliable method for the detection of pneumonia consolidation in hospitalized children, with sensitivity and specificity superior to CXR. LUS should be used for rapid and safe evaluation of child pneumonia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ioana Mihaiela Ciuca
- Pediatric Department, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Victor Babes”, 300041 Timisoara, Romania; (I.M.C.); (M.D.); (L.L.P.)
- Pediatric Pulmonology Unit, Clinical County Hospital, 300226 Timisoara, Romania
| | - Mihaela Dediu
- Pediatric Department, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Victor Babes”, 300041 Timisoara, Romania; (I.M.C.); (M.D.); (L.L.P.)
| | - Monica Steluta Marc
- Pediatric Pulmonology Unit, Clinical County Hospital, 300226 Timisoara, Romania
| | - Mirabela Lukic
- Pulmonology Department, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Victor Babes”, 300041 Timisoara, Romania;
| | - Delia Ioana Horhat
- ENT Department, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Victor Babes”, 300041 Timisoara, Romania;
| | - Liviu Laurentiu Pop
- Pediatric Department, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Victor Babes”, 300041 Timisoara, Romania; (I.M.C.); (M.D.); (L.L.P.)
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Chen J, He C, Yin J, Li J, Duan X, Cao Y, Sun L, Hu M, Li W, Li Q. Quantitative Analysis and Automated Lung Ultrasound Scoring for Evaluating COVID-19 Pneumonia With Neural Networks. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ULTRASONICS, FERROELECTRICS, AND FREQUENCY CONTROL 2021; 68:2507-2515. [PMID: 33798078 PMCID: PMC8864919 DOI: 10.1109/tuffc.2021.3070696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2021] [Accepted: 03/28/2021] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
As being radiation-free, portable, and capable of repetitive use, ultrasonography is playing an important role in diagnosing and evaluating the COVID-19 Pneumonia (PN) in this epidemic. By virtue of lung ultrasound scores (LUSS), lung ultrasound (LUS) was used to estimate the excessive lung fluid that is an important clinical manifestation of COVID-19 PN, with high sensitivity and specificity. However, as a qualitative method, LUSS suffered from large interobserver variations and requirement for experienced clinicians. Considering this limitation, we developed a quantitative and automatic lung ultrasound scoring system for evaluating the COVID-19 PN. A total of 1527 ultrasound images prospectively collected from 31 COVID-19 PN patients with different clinical conditions were evaluated and scored with LUSS by experienced clinicians. All images were processed via a series of computer-aided analysis, including curve-to-linear conversion, pleural line detection, region-of-interest (ROI) selection, and feature extraction. A collection of 28 features extracted from the ROI was specifically defined for mimicking the LUSS. Multilayer fully connected neural networks, support vector machines, and decision trees were developed for scoring LUS images using the fivefold cross validation. The model with 128×256 two fully connected layers gave the best accuracy of 87%. It is concluded that the proposed method could assess the ultrasound images by assigning LUSS automatically with high accuracy, potentially applicable to the clinics.
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Mento F, Perrone T, Fiengo A, Smargiassi A, Inchingolo R, Soldati G, Demi L. Deep learning applied to lung ultrasound videos for scoring COVID-19 patients: A multicenter study. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2021; 149:3626. [PMID: 34241100 DOI: 10.1121/10.0004855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
In the current pandemic, lung ultrasound (LUS) played a useful role in evaluating patients affected by COVID-19. However, LUS remains limited to the visual inspection of ultrasound data, thus negatively affecting the reliability and reproducibility of the findings. Moreover, many different imaging protocols have been proposed, most of which lacked proper clinical validation. To address these problems, we were the first to propose a standardized imaging protocol and scoring system. Next, we developed the first deep learning (DL) algorithms capable of evaluating LUS videos providing, for each video-frame, the score as well as semantic segmentation. Moreover, we have analyzed the impact of different imaging protocols and demonstrated the prognostic value of our approach. In this work, we report on the level of agreement between the DL and LUS experts, when evaluating LUS data. The results show a percentage of agreement between DL and LUS experts of 85.96% in the stratification between patients at high risk of clinical worsening and patients at low risk. These encouraging results demonstrate the potential of DL models for the automatic scoring of LUS data, when applied to high quality data acquired accordingly to a standardized imaging protocol.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Mento
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 9, 38123, Trento, Italy
| | - Tiziano Perrone
- Department of Internal Medicine, IRCCS San Matteo, 27100, Pavia, Italy
| | - Anna Fiengo
- Department of Internal Medicine, IRCCS San Matteo, 27100, Pavia, Italy
| | - Andrea Smargiassi
- Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Sciences, Pulmonary Medicine Unit, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | - Riccardo Inchingolo
- Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Sciences, Pulmonary Medicine Unit, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy
| | - Gino Soldati
- Diagnostic and Interventional Ultrasound Unit, Valle del Serchio General Hospital, 55032 Lucca, Italy
| | - Libertario Demi
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 9, 38123, Trento, Italy
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31
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Peschiera E, Mento F, Demi L. Numerical study on lung ultrasound B-line formation as a function of imaging frequency and alveolar geometries. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2021; 149:2304. [PMID: 33940883 DOI: 10.1121/10.0003930] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2020] [Accepted: 03/04/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Lung ultrasound (LUS) has become a widely adopted diagnostic method for several lung diseases. However, the presence of air inside the lung does not allow the anatomical investigation of the organ. Therefore, LUS is mainly based on the interpretation of vertical imaging artifacts, called B-lines. These artifacts correlate with several pathologies, but their genesis is still partly unknown. Within this framework, this study focuses on the factors affecting the artifacts' formation by numerically simulating the ultrasound propagation within the lungs through the toolbox k-Wave. Since the main hypothesis behind the generation of B-lines relies on multiple scattering phenomena occurring once acoustic channels open at the lung surface, the impact of changing alveolar size and spacing is of interest. The tested domain is of size 4 cm × 1.6 cm, the investigated frequencies vary from 1 to 5 MHz, and the explored alveolar diameters and spacing range from 100 to 400 μm and from 20 to 395 μm, respectively. Results show the strong and entangled relation among the wavelength, the domain geometries, and the artifact visualization, allowing for better understanding of propagation in such a complex medium and opening several possibilities for future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emanuele Peschiera
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, Ultrasound Laboratory Trento, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 9, 38123 Trento, Italy
| | - Federico Mento
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, Ultrasound Laboratory Trento, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 9, 38123 Trento, Italy
| | - Libertario Demi
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, Ultrasound Laboratory Trento, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 9, 38123 Trento, Italy
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Zhou B, Bartholmai BJ, Kalra S, Osborn T, Zhang X. Lung mass density prediction using machine learning based on ultrasound surface wave elastography and pulmonary function testing. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2021; 149:1318. [PMID: 33639787 PMCID: PMC7904317 DOI: 10.1121/10.0003575] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2020] [Revised: 02/01/2021] [Accepted: 02/05/2021] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to predict in vivo lung mass density for patients with interstitial lung disease using different gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT) algorithms based on measurements from lung ultrasound surface wave elastography (LUSWE) and pulmonary function testing (PFT). METHODS Age and weight of study subjects (57 patients with interstitial lung disease and 20 healthy subjects), surface wave speeds at three vibration frequencies (100, 150, and 200 Hz) from LUSWE, and predicted forced expiratory volume (FEV1% pre) and ratio of forced expiratory volume to forced vital capacity (FEV1%/FVC%) from PFT were used as inputs while lung mass densities based on the Hounsfield Unit from high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) were used as labels to train the regressor in three GBDT algorithms, XGBoost, CatBoost, and LightGBM. 80% (20%) of the dataset was used for training (testing). RESULTS The results showed that predictions using XGBoost regressor obtained an accuracy of 0.98 in the test dataset. CONCLUSION The obtained results suggest that XGBoost regressor based on the measurements from LUSWE and PFT may be able to noninvasively assess lung mass density in vivo for patients with pulmonary disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Boran Zhou
- Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA
| | | | - Sanjay Kalra
- Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA
| | - Thomas Osborn
- Department of Rheumatology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA
| | - Xiaoming Zhang
- Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA
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Demi L. Lung ultrasound: The future ahead and the lessons learned from COVID-19. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2020; 148:2146. [PMID: 33138522 PMCID: PMC7857508 DOI: 10.1121/10.0002183] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Lung ultrasound (LUS) is a rapidly evolving field of application for ultrasound technologies. Especially during the current pandemic, many clinicians around the world have employed LUS to assess the condition of the lung for patients suspected and/or affected by COVID-19. However, LUS is currently performed with standard ultrasound imaging, which is not designed to cope with the high air content present in lung tissues. Nowadays LUS lacks standardization and suffers from the absence of quantitative approaches. To elevate LUS to the level of other ultrasound imaging applications, several aspects deserve attention from the technical and clinical world. This overview piece tries to provide the reader with a forward-looking view on the future for LUS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Libertario Demi
- Ultrasound Laboratory Trento (ULTRa), Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 9, 38123, Trento, Italy
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34
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Mento F, Demi L. On the influence of imaging parameters on lung ultrasound B-line artifacts, in vitro study. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2020; 148:975. [PMID: 32873037 DOI: 10.1121/10.0001797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2020] [Accepted: 08/06/2020] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
The clinical relevance of lung ultrasonography (LUS) has been rapidly growing since the 1990s. However, LUS is mainly based on the evaluation of visual artifacts (also called B-lines), leading to subjective and qualitative diagnoses. The formation of B-lines remains unknown and, hence, researchers need to study their origin to allow clinicians to quantitatively evaluate the state of lungs. This paper investigates an ambiguity about the formation of B-lines, leading to the formulation of two main hypotheses. The first hypothesis states that the visualization of these artifacts is linked only to the dimension of the emitted beam, whereas the second associates their appearance to specific resonance phenomena. To verify these hypotheses, the frequency spectrum of B-lines was studied by using dedicated lung-phantoms. A research programmable platform connected to an LA533 linear array probe was exploited both to implement a multifrequency approach and to acquire raw radio frequency data. The strength of each artifact was measured as a function of frequency, focal point, and transmitting aperture by means of the artifact total intensity. The results show that the main parameter that influences the visualization of B-lines is the frequency rather than the focal point or the number of transmitting elements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federico Mento
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 9, Trento, 38123, Italy
| | - Libertario Demi
- Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 9, Trento, 38123, Italy
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