Use of Ultrasound to Diagnose and Manage a Five-Liter Empyema in a Rural Clinic in Sierra Leone

Rotte, Masashi; Fields, Jason; Torres, Susan; Dominick, C.; Kelly, John D.

doi:10.1155/2014/173810

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 17 publications

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“…A case from Sierra Leone highlights the use of a hand‐carried ultrasound device for the diagnosis of a large empyema, and subsequent management of drains and complications . A case from Haiti demonstrates the use of hand‐carried ultrasound in the diagnosis and management of intussusception by a clinician without prior practical experience in invasive treatment of this condition .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of portable ultrasound devices in low‐ and middle‐income countries: a systematic review of the literature

Becker

Tafoya

Becker

et al. 2016

Tropical Med Int Health

166

146

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Abstractobjectives To review the scientific literature pertaining to the use of hand-carried and hand-held ultrasound devices in low-and middle-income countries (LMIC), with a focus on clinical applications, geographical areas of use, the impact on patient management and technical features of the devices used.methods The electronic databases PubMed and Google Scholar were searched. No language or date restrictions were applied. Case reports and original research describing the use of hand-carried ultrasound devices in LMIC were included if agreed upon as relevant by two-reviewer consensus based on our predefined research questions.results A total of 644 articles were found and screened, and 36 manuscripts were included for final review. Twenty-seven studies were original research articles, and nine were case reports. Several reports describe the successful diagnosis and management of difficult, often life-threatening conditions, using hand-carried and hand-held ultrasound. These portable ultrasound devices have also been studied for cardiac screening exams, as well as a rapid triage tool in rural areas and after natural disaster. Most applications focus on obstetrical and abdominal complaints. Portable ultrasound may have an impact on clinical management in up to 70% of all cases. However, no randomised controlled trials have evaluated the impact of ultrasound-guided diagnosis and treatment in resource-constrained settings. The exclusion of articles published in journals not listed in the large databases may have biased our results. Our findings are limited by the lack of higher quality evidence (e.g. controlled trials).conclusions Hand-carried and hand-held ultrasound is successfully being used to triage, diagnose and treat patients with a variety of complaints in LMIC. However, the quality of the current evidence is low. There is an urgent need to perform larger clinical trials assessing the impact of hand-carried ultrasound in LMIC.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%