Pulmonary Edema: Diagnostic Tests

Obligatory medical device diagnostics.

Optional medical device diagnostics – depending on the results of the history, physical examination, laboratory diagnostics and obligatory medical device diagnostics – for differential diagnostic clarification.

  • Lung sonography (synonyms: lung ultrasonography, LUS) [echo phenomena: comet tail artifacts due to multiple acoustic interfaces between small water-rich structures and surrounding alveolar air in the lung periphery; B lines, “lung rockets”]The sensitivity of ultrasound (percentage of diseased patients in whom the disease is detected by the use of the procedure, ie. i.e., a positive finding occurs) was 96% versus 65% x-ray chest; specificity (likelihood that actually healthy individuals who do not have the disease in question are also detected as healthy by the test): 88% versus 96%
  • Echocardiography (echo; cardiac ultrasound) – for suspected structural heart disease.
  • Computed tomography of the thorax/chest (thoracic CT) – for further diagnostics.