Can handheld micropower impulse radar technology be used to detect pneumothorax? Initial experience in a European trauma centre

A Prospective Study: Is Handheld Micropower Impulse Radar Technology (Pneumoscan) a Promising Method to Detect Pneumothorax?

“…[9,10,16] The sensitivity in our study was 83.3%, which was relatively close to the one found by Albers et al It was also detected that 34.9% specificity was quite a low specificity compared to other three studies.…”

“…However, this device is designed to be independent of medical knowledge and usable by everyone. [9] Thus, the possibility of error depending on the person who performed Pneumoscan readings does not seem reasonable. In case the possibility of false positive diagnosis depends on device functioning, the company was frequently consulted with, and it assured that the device worked properly.…”

“…1a). [9] Since current methods of PTX detection are not practical for pre-hospital providers or battlefield medics, a novel device based on MIR technology has been developed for the identification of PTX. [10] The device works by emitting ultra-short radar pulses (<1 ns).…”

“…[7,8] Recent research has focused on new technologies that are robust, fast, cheap, and simple to handle, portable, accurate, reliable, and available for preclinical and clinical settings. [6,9] Considering these purposes, several devices have been developed.…”

Does Radar Technology Support the Diagnosis of Pneumothorax? PneumoScan—A Diagnostic Point-of-Care Tool

“…Despite low number of cases, we revealed at least a principle advantage of PneumoScan towards clinical examination and CXR in excluding PTX, which could increase diagnostic safety. The results of this study with 24 applied patients underline the good findings of a previous study with 50 patients to assess the diagnostic value of PneumoScan (sensitivity 85.7% (1/7 false negative), specificity 97.7% (1/43 false positive), gold standard CT [13]).…”