Lung ultrasound allows the diagnosis of weaning-induced pulmonary oedema.

Rationale: Detecting weaning-induced pulmonary oedema (WIPO) is important because its treatment might prompt extubation. For this purpose, lung ultrasound might be an attractive tool, since it demonstrates pulmonary oedema through the appearance of B-lines.

Objectives: To test the ideal profile (increase in the number of B-lines) for diagnosing WIPO.

A-lines and B-lines: lung ultrasound as a bedside tool for predicting pulmonary artery occlusion pressure in the critically ill.

Background: The risk of pulmonary edema is the main limiting factor in fluid therapy in the critically ill. Interstitial edema is a subclinical step that precedes alveolar edema. This study assesses a bedside tool for detecting interstitial edema, lung ultrasound.

The dynamic air bronchogram. A lung ultrasound sign of alveolar consolidation ruling out atelectasis.

Background: The objective of this study was to identify the relationship between a dynamic lung artifact, the dynamic air bronchogram, within alveolar consolidation and the diagnosis of pneumonia vs resorptive atelectasis.

Methods: This prospective study was undertaken within the medical ICU of a university-affiliated teaching hospital. The sample comprised 52 patients with proven pneumonia (pneumonia group) and 16 patients with proven resorptive atelectasis (atelectasis group).

Relevance of lung ultrasound in the diagnosis of acute respiratory failure: the BLUE protocol.

Background: This study assesses the potential of lung ultrasonography to diagnose acute respiratory failure.

Methods: This observational study was conducted in university-affiliated teaching-hospital ICUs. We performed ultrasonography on consecutive patients admitted to the ICU with acute respiratory failure, comparing lung ultrasonography results on initial presentation with the final diagnosis by the ICU team.

Ultrasound diagnosis of occult pneumothorax.

Objectives: Pneumothorax can be missed by bedside radiography, and computed tomography is the current alternative. We asked whether lung ultrasound could be of any help in this situation.

Design: Retrospective study.

Ultrasound diagnosis of alveolar consolidation in the critically ill.

Objective: Alveolar consolidation is a basic concern in critically ill patients. Radiography is not a precise tool, and referral to CT raises problems (transport, irradiation). The aim of this study was to assess the utility of ultrasound in the diagnosis of alveolar consolidation.

The "lung pulse": an early ultrasound sign of complete atelectasis.

Objective: Complete atelectasis can be immediately generated by selective intubation. A dynamic lung ultrasound sign can be described as the association of absent lung sliding with the perception of heart activity at the pleural line, a sign which was called "lung pulse." We examined whether this sign be used promptly to confirm complete atelectasis due to selective intubation.

The "lung point": an ultrasound sign specific to pneumothorax.

Objective: We studied an ultrasound sign, the fleeting appearance of a lung pattern (lung sliding or pathologic comet-tail artifacts) replacing a pneumothorax pattern (absent lung sliding plus exclusive horizontal lines) in a particular location of the chest wall. This sign was called the "lung point".

Design: Prospective study.

Feasibility and safety of ultrasound-aided thoracentesis in mechanically ventilated patients.

Objective: Thoracentesis in a ventilated patient is rarely performed because of the risk of pneumothorax. We have evaluated the safety of this procedure when aided by ultrasound.

Design: Prospective study.

The comet-tail artifact: an ultrasound sign ruling out pneumothorax.

Objective: Ultrasound artifacts arising from the lung-wall interface are either vertical (comet-tail artifacts) or horizontal. The significance of these artifacts for the diagnosis of pneumothorax was assessed.

Design: Prospective clinical study.

A lung ultrasound sign allowing bedside distinction between pulmonary edema and COPD: the comet-tail artifact.

Objective: Acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema and exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can have a similar clinical presentation, and X-ray examination does not always solve the problem of differential diagnosis. The potential of lung ultrasound to distinguish these two disorders was assessed.

Design: Prospective clinical study.

The "sinusogram", a real-time ultrasound sign of maxillary sinusitis.

Objective: To describe a real-time ultrasound sign, the visualization of the cavity and the walls of the maxillary sinus ("sinusogram"), and to assess its correlation with total opacity of the sinus.

Design: Prospective clinical study.

Setting: The medical ICU of a university-affiliated hospital.

The comet-tail artifact. An ultrasound sign of alveolar-interstitial syndrome.

Can ultrasound be of any help in the diagnosis of alveolar-interstitial syndrome? In a prospective study, we examined 250 consecutive patients in a medical intensive care unit: 121 patients with radiologic alveolar-interstitial syndrome (disseminated to the whole lung, n = 92; localized, n = 29) and 129 patients without radiologic evidence of alveolar-interstitial syndrome. The antero-lateral chest wall was examined using ultrasound. The ultrasonic feature of multiple comet-tail artifacts fanning out from the lung surface was investigated.