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Lung Ultrasound for the Postoperative Diagnosis of Pneumothorax in Children

Is Lung Ultrasound the Technique of Choice for the Diagnosis of Pneumothorax Following the Nuss Procedure for Pectus Excavatum?

Status
Completed
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Observational
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT03073616
Acronym
ECO_NUSS
Enrollment
66
Registered
2017-03-08
Start date
2017-04-01
Completion date
2018-12-31
Last updated
2019-08-07

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Pectus Excavatum

Brief summary

This study will be conducted to determine the advantages and limitations of sonography compared with chest radiography, in the detection of post procedure iatrogenic pneumothorax in patients underwent to Pectus Excavatum (PE) with Nuss repair.

Detailed description

The Nuss procedure is a minimally invasive technique for the repair of Pectus Excavatum (MIRPE). Residual pneumothorax (PNX) is reported in more than 50% after Nuss procedure. It is a consequence of the introduction of the scope and bar in the pleural space and is considered a minor complication due to the minimal clinical consequences. It is routine practice to confirm the diagnosis of PNX with a conventional chest X-Ray either in the operating room at the end of thoracic surgery or in the recovery room unit immediately after surgery.However, anterior pneumothorax can occur and chest-X ray could not be able to detected the PNX. Nowadays lung ultrasound (LUS) allows a bedside non-invasive evaluation of the patient(with a sensitivity and specificity of 92 and 99% respectively) without exposure to ionized radiation, can be performed more quickly than chest radiography and therefore can be repeated several times without additional risks. The use of LUS in pediatric age groups is more recent, but is becoming widely utilized both in neonatal and pediatric respiratory diseases. Bedside sonography for diagnosis of PNX has been well described in emergency and trauma medicine literature and it is resulted to be more sensitive and specific than portable anteroposterior chest radiography. Although there are few studies describing the use of ultrasound for the detection of surgical pneumothorax, none of them studied its use after Nuss Procedure.

Interventions

DEVICELung ultrasound

Lung ultrasound and chest RX

Sponsors

Nicola Disma, MD
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Observational model
CASE_CROSSOVER
Time perspective
PROSPECTIVE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Patients following Nuss procedure for PE repair at Giannina Gaslini Institute

Exclusion criteria

* absence of informed consent from parents * poor quality of the pre-operatory acoustic window

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Detection of PNX60 minutes after the end of surgeryDetection of residual PNX immediately after surgery for NUSS repair, either using lung ultrasound (LUS): sliding (Y/N), line B (Y/N), lung pulse (Y/N), lung point (Y/N) and Rx PNX=Y/N).

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Lung ultrasound and operator, composite measurementBefore surgery, 60 minutes after surgery and 24 hours after surgeryThe diagnosis of PNX and no PNX has to be in agreement between operators (anesthesiologist and student)
Postoperative complications5 days after surgeryIncidence of Postoperative Pulmonary Complication

Countries

Italy

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026