THORAXSONOGRAPHY .2. PERIPHERAL PULMONARY CONSOLIDATION

In many cases of pulmonary diseases extending up to the pleura, ultras ound (US) helps to identify the etiology of the lesion, There are seve ral sonomorphological criteria to differentiate peripheral pulmonary c onsolidations. Pneumonic infiltration shows a hypoechoic inhomogeneous echo texture, with multiple air inlets and bronchoaerograms. Fluid br onchogram indicates an obstructive pneumonitis, Pulmonary infarctions are visible in different stages as triangular pleural-based lesions in most cases of pulmonary embolism, The diagnostic accuracy of chest so nography in pulmonary embolism was 85%-90%. US-guided transthoracic bi opsy shows a diagnostic yield of > 90% in malignancies and 50%-83% of benign lesions, The overall complication rate is very low: 1%-2% hemop tysis, 2%-4% pneumothoraces and 1%-2% requiring chest tube drainage, C olor Doppler US can demonstrate the vascular patterns and may help in the understanding of underlying pathophysiology. Sonographic examinati ons of the upper and central mediastinum provide good results in 90-95 % of cases, Some anatomical limitations of transcutaneous US can be ci rcumvented by endoluminal US. (C) 1997 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology.