The Role of Lung Ultrasound During Perioperative Evaluation

Accurate pre-operative lung assessment is important to decide the most appropriate anesthesia plan. Until now, chest X-ray is considered the standard of care for lung assessment during perioperative evaluation. However, lung ultrasound is a rapid, simple, non-invasive, radiation-free imaging modality and can be used as an alternative to chest radiography for the diagnosis and follow-up of various lung diseases. Moreover, the decreased radiation exposure represents a considerable improvement in patient safety. Consequently, we decided to compare the data obtained from the lung ultrasound and the chest X-ray.