Table 1

Diagnostic accuracy of LUS

StudySettingReference standardHours or days of LUS trainingExperience in LUS or US in generalPneumonia positive (n) / Total number of patients examined for pneumonia (N)Sensitivity (95% CI)Specificity (95% CI)
Amatya et al38EDCT1 hour1 week44/620.91 (0.78 to 0.98)§0.61 (0.36 to 0.83)§
Corradi et al18EDCT>10 years*44/62†0.68 (0.52 to 0.81)§0.95 (0.75 to 1.00)§
Fares et al22ICUCT30/380.93 (0.78 to 0.99)§0.75 (0.35 to 0.97)§
Karimi et al39EDCT280/2800.94 (0.90 to 0.96)Not calculable
Liu et al31EDCT28 hours>50 scans112/1790.95 (0.89 to 0.98)§0.99 (0.92 to 1.00)§
Nazerian et al32EDCT>1 year87/2850.83 (0.73 to 0.90)0.96 (0.92 to 0.98)
Taghizadieh et al35EDCT29/301.00 (0.95 to 1.00)Not calculable
Parlamento et al34EDCXR/CT>10 years32/490.97 (0.84 to 1.00)§No conclusive data
Reissig et al20Multicentre‡CXR/CT>100 scans226/3560.93 (0.89 to 0.96)0.98 (0.89 to 0.96)
Unluer et al37EDCXR/CT6 hours28/720.96 (0.82 to 1.00)0.84 (0.70 to 0.93)
Benci et al17Department of infectious diseasesQA37/801.00 (0.91 to 1.00)§1.00 (0.92 to 1.00)§
Bitar et al29ICUQA11/110.99a0.80a
Bourcier et al30EDQA2 days123/1440.95 (0.90 to 0.98)§0.57 (0.34 to 0.78)§
Cipollini et al27Medicine
/geriatric
ward
QA>1 year128/1280.82 (0.74 to 0.88)§Not calculable
Cortellaro et al19EDQA81/1200.99 (0.93 to 1.00)0.95 (0.83 to 0.99)
Pagano et al33EDQA>2 years68/1050.99 (0.94 to 1.00)0.65 (0.56 to 0.67)
Ticinesi et al36Geriatric wardQA>1 year97/1690.92 (0.86 to 0.97)0.94 (0.89 to 0.99)
  • *Data collected by correspondence with author.

  • †Hemithoraxes.

  • ‡Two university hospitals, seven hospitals of internal medicine, one hospital of pulmonary medicine, two practices, two EDs.

  • §95% CI calculated from true positives, false negatives, true negatives and false negatives. (Clopper-Pearson method).

  • -, not described; CXR, chest X-ray; ED, emergency department; ICU, intensive care unit; LUS, lung ultrasonography; QA, qualitative assessment; US, ultrasonography.