Sonographic features of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Abstract

Background Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a specific form of idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP) that occurs primarily in the elderly and is confined to the lungs. With the use of transthoracic ultrasound (TUS), diffuse parenchymal lung disease should be considered if multiple comet-tail artifacts distributed over the whole surface of the lung together with a thickened and irregular, fragmented pleural line are visible. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate lung ultrasound usefulness in the diagnosis of IPF. Patients and methods This study was carried out on 40 patients diagnosed as having IPF. All cases were subjected to a full assessment of history, clinical examination, laboratory investigations, arterial blood gases, pulmonary function test, plain chest radiography, high-resolution computed tomography, and TUS. Results Our results showed that B-lines in combination with thickened and irregular pleura are the TUS features of IPF. There was a statistically significant correlation among B-lines distance (mm), pleural line thickness (mm), pleural line irregularity, abolished lung sliding found by TUS, and severity of the disease. Conclusion TUS is a useful tool in the diagnosis and assessment of the severity of IPF and can be used as a complementary method beside high-resolution computed tomography. The distance between two adjacent lines in combination with thickened and irregular pleura is a good feature in the follow-up of disease progression.

Keywords

• high-resolution computed tomography
• idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
• transthoracic ultrasound