Use of Endobronchial Ultrasound Scope (EBUS) Transducer to Identify Pneumothorax-A Feasibility Study

Endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) is a technique that uses ultrasound along with bronchoscope to visualize airway wall and structures adjacent to it. Pneumothorax is a known complication from EBUS procedure. To rule out a Pneumothorax after the procedure, a Chest -X-ray is usually done. Point-of-care sonography has emerged as an invaluable tool in the assessment of patients with both traumatic and non-traumatic dyspnea. Multiple studies involving bedside ultrasound has shown that a pneumothorax can easily be ruled out if pleural sliding sign or B lines are visualized on lung ultrasonography; the accuracy of lung ultrasound in ruling out pneumothorax approach computed tomography and exceed plain radiography. Preforming a lung ultrasound using the EBUS bronchoscope tip as a way to rule out pneumothorax has never been described previously. If this is possible it will obviate the need of getting a Chest -X-ray and decrease the dose of radiation that the patient is exposed to. In this study we will demonstrate that the feasibility of using the transducer of the EBUS Bronchoscope to perform bedside lung ultrasound to rule out pneumothorax.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Pneumothorax
• Intervention / Treatment: Device: Ultrasound with EBUS scope and with linear ultrasound probe

Detailed Description

The use of ultrasound in diagnosis and treatment of patients has been well-established for many decades. The use of thoracic ultrasonography is a fairly new and rapidly evolving field. The interface between the ultrasound probe and chest wall can produce artifacts that can be useful in diagnosing a pneumothorax. In one prospective study the utility of ultrasound was compared to chest X-ray and CT-scan by trauma surgeon (1). Their results demonstrate that ultrasound was more sensitive than chest X-ray to identify early pneumothorax. The study also demonstrated that 63% of pneumothoraxes diagnosed were occult and would have been later diagnosed on CT chest. In these critical situations where is subtle pneumothorax can be missed, a bedside ultrasound has been proven to accelerate the diagnosis and thus treatment. Similarly another prospective study noted that up to 76% of all traumatic pneumothoraxes were missed by standard AP chest X-ray, when interpreted by trauma team (2). This number was significantly higher than a retrospective study in which 55% of pneumothoraxes were missed on AP chest films reviewed by radiologist (3). The sensitivity of ultrasound in detecting pneumothorax has been demonstrated in multiple studies to be similar to CT-scan, which is considered to be gold standard for the detection of pneumothorax (4, 5).

Visualization of normal pleural lung sliding is itself sufficient to exclude pneumothorax , if lung sliding is not present the finding of B lines( vertical lines), which usually originate from the lung parenchyma will also exclude the possibility of pneumothorax at the interspace in question, since the lung parenchyma cannot be visualized if there is air interposed between the pleura and the lung.

Endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) is considered an integral component of diagnosis of indeterminate mediastinal lymph nodes, masses and peripheral pulmonary nodules. EBUS is minimally invasive, safe and highly accurate (6). According to current estimates that incidence if complications associated with EBUS is between 1-1.5% (6, 7). Major complications are associated with needle aspirations. The incidence of pneumothorax was found to be 3.3% in one retrospective analysis (8), with 31% of patients requiring chest tube eventually for treatment of pneumothorax. Post-procedure chest-X-rays are commonly performed to rule out pneumothorax. Based on current data chest-X-rays are considered suboptimal for diagnosis of pneumothorax and can also expose patients to undue radiation.

The EBUS probe contains a small ultrasound through which ultrasound images of various structure i.e. lymph nodes, ventricles, pulmonary vasculature can be visualized. Ruling out pneumothorax via lung ultrasound using EBUS probe has never been described. If this is possible, it avoids the need of obtaining post-procedure Chest-X-rays thus decreasing the dose of radiation exposure and prevent time delays for the arrival of chest-x-rays.

In this study we will demonstrate the feasibility of using the transducer of the EBUS Bronchoscope to perform bedside lung ultrasound to rule out pneumothorax.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Estimated): 20

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Houssein Youness, MD; Phone Number: 405-271-6173; Email: Houssein-Youness@ouhsc.edu
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Aejaz Ulhaq, MD; Phone Number: 405-271-6173; Email: Aejaz-UlHaq@ouhsc.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Oklahoma
    • Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, 73104
      • Recruiting
      • Oklahoma University Medical Center
      • Contact: Houssein Youness, MD; Phone Number: 405-271-6173; Email: Houssein-Youness@ouhsc.edu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 16 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

1. All patients presenting for bronchoscopy (These patient are expected to have normal pleural sliding sign identified by ultrasound)
2. Patients with pneumothorax requiring chest tube(This group of patient is expected to have residual pneumothorax for identification of absence of lung sliding, B lines and lung point)
3. Patients with respiratory failure on mechanical ventilation(This group of patient is expected to have alveolo-interstitial findings such as B lines)

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. All patients presenting for bronchoscopy (These patient are expected to have normal pleural sliding sign identified by ultrasound)
2. Patients with pneumothorax requiring chest tube(This group of patient is expected to have residual pneumothorax for identification of absence of lung sliding, B lines and lung point)
3. Patients with respiratory failure on mechanical ventilation(This group of patient is expected to have alveolo-interstitial findings such as B lines)

Exclusion Criteria:

-Absence of informed consent

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Observational Models: Case-Only
• Time Perspectives: Cross-Sectional

Number of groups / cohorts

3

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
Patients undergoing bronchoscopy; All patients presenting for bronchoscopy (These patient are expected to have normal pleural sliding sign identified by ultrasound)	Device: Ultrasound with EBUS scope and with linear ultrasound probe; All subjects will have an ultrasound of the chest performed with the tip of the EBUS scope as well as the linear ultrasound probe, which will be used as a reference for comparison. At the end of the procedure, while the patient in the supine position, the transducer of the EBUS bronchoscope will be placed on the anterior thorax, superficial to the skin and in a sagittal direction that is perpendicular to 2 ribs. The depth of the ultrasound beam will be increased to identify the pleural sliding sign and B lines (vertical lines) when present.This will be followed by use of linear ultrasound probe to scan the chest wall for normal lung sliding, B-lines and potential pneumothorax. The patient will remain in supine position. The linear probe will be placed on anterior thorax at the level of second intercostal space. The depth of the ultrasound beam will be adjusted to identify lung sliding and B-lines.
Patients with pneumothorax; Patients with pneumothorax requiring chest tube(This group of patient is expected to have residual pneumothorax for identification of absence of lung sliding, B lines and lung point)	Device: Ultrasound with EBUS scope and with linear ultrasound probe; All subjects will have an ultrasound of the chest performed with the tip of the EBUS scope as well as the linear ultrasound probe, which will be used as a reference for comparison. At the end of the procedure, while the patient in the supine position, the transducer of the EBUS bronchoscope will be placed on the anterior thorax, superficial to the skin and in a sagittal direction that is perpendicular to 2 ribs. The depth of the ultrasound beam will be increased to identify the pleural sliding sign and B lines (vertical lines) when present.This will be followed by use of linear ultrasound probe to scan the chest wall for normal lung sliding, B-lines and potential pneumothorax. The patient will remain in supine position. The linear probe will be placed on anterior thorax at the level of second intercostal space. The depth of the ultrasound beam will be adjusted to identify lung sliding and B-lines.
Patients on mechanical ventilation; Patients with respiratory failure on mechanical ventilation(This group of patient is expected to have alveolo-interstitial findings such as B lines)	Device: Ultrasound with EBUS scope and with linear ultrasound probe; All subjects will have an ultrasound of the chest performed with the tip of the EBUS scope as well as the linear ultrasound probe, which will be used as a reference for comparison. At the end of the procedure, while the patient in the supine position, the transducer of the EBUS bronchoscope will be placed on the anterior thorax, superficial to the skin and in a sagittal direction that is perpendicular to 2 ribs. The depth of the ultrasound beam will be increased to identify the pleural sliding sign and B lines (vertical lines) when present.This will be followed by use of linear ultrasound probe to scan the chest wall for normal lung sliding, B-lines and potential pneumothorax. The patient will remain in supine position. The linear probe will be placed on anterior thorax at the level of second intercostal space. The depth of the ultrasound beam will be adjusted to identify lung sliding and B-lines.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
The percentage of patients on whom a sliding sign and/or B lines are identified successfully with EBUS versus linear US	1 Hour

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive value of the bedside lung ultrasound using the EBUS transducer to detect pneumothorax as compared to the linear US, the bedside Chest X-ray and the final clinical diagnosis of pneumothorax.	1 Hour
The Time elapsed between the end of the bronchoscopy and the completion of lung ultrasound will be compared to the time between the end of the bronchoscopy and the availability of CXR imaging.	1 Hour

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Oklahoma

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Ball CG, Kirkpatrick AW, Laupland KB, Fox DI, Nicolaou S, Anderson IB, Hameed SM, Kortbeek JB, Mulloy RR, Litvinchuk S, Boulanger BR. Incidence, risk factors, and outcomes for occult pneumothoraces in victims of major trauma. J Trauma. 2005 Oct;59(4):917-24; discussion 924-5. doi: 10.1097/01.ta.0000174663.46453.86.
• Kirkpatrick AW, Sirois M, Laupland KB, Liu D, Rowan K, Ball CG, Hameed SM, Brown R, Simons R, Dulchavsky SA, Hamiilton DR, Nicolaou S. Hand-held thoracic sonography for detecting post-traumatic pneumothoraces: the Extended Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma (EFAST). J Trauma. 2004 Aug;57(2):288-95. doi: 10.1097/01.ta.0000133565.88871.e4.
• Ball CG, Ranson K, Dente CJ, Feliciano DV, Laupland KB, Dyer D, Inaba K, Trottier V, Datta I, Kirkpatrick AW. Clinical predictors of occult pneumothoraces in severely injured blunt polytrauma patients: A prospective observational study. Injury. 2009 Jan;40(1):44-7. doi: 10.1016/j.injury.2008.07.015. Epub 2009 Jan 8.
• Blaivas M, Lyon M, Duggal S. A prospective comparison of supine chest radiography and bedside ultrasound for the diagnosis of traumatic pneumothorax. Acad Emerg Med. 2005 Sep;12(9):844-9. doi: 10.1197/j.aem.2005.05.005.
• Soldati G, Testa A, Sher S, Pignataro G, La Sala M, Silveri NG. Occult traumatic pneumothorax: diagnostic accuracy of lung ultrasonography in the emergency department. Chest. 2008 Jan;133(1):204-11. doi: 10.1378/chest.07-1595. Epub 2007 Oct 9.
• Asano F, Aoe M, Ohsaki Y, Okada Y, Sasada S, Sato S, Suzuki E, Semba H, Fukuoka K, Fujino S, Ohmori K. Complications associated with endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration: a nationwide survey by the Japan Society for Respiratory Endoscopy. Respir Res. 2013 May 10;14(1):50. doi: 10.1186/1465-9921-14-50.
• Eapen GA, Shah AM, Lei X, Jimenez CA, Morice RC, Yarmus L, Filner J, Ray C, Michaud G, Greenhill SR, Sarkiss M, Casal R, Rice D, Ost DE; American College of Chest Physicians Quality Improvement Registry, Education, and Evaluation (AQuIRE) Participants. Complications, consequences, and practice patterns of endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration: Results of the AQuIRE registry. Chest. 2013 Apr;143(4):1044-1053. doi: 10.1378/chest.12-0350.
• Huang CT, Ruan SY, Liao WY, Kuo YW, Lin CY, Tsai YJ, Ho CC, Yu CJ. Risk factors of pneumothorax after endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial biopsy for peripheral lung lesions. PLoS One. 2012;7(11):e49125. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0049125. Epub 2012 Nov 7.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (Estimated): September 1, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 14, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 14, 2016
• First Posted (Estimated): September 20, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): December 6, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 4, 2023
• Last Verified: December 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Respiratory Tract Diseases; Pleural Diseases; Pneumothorax
• Other Study ID Numbers: 6622

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO