Recommendations on the Use of Ultrasound Guidance for Adult Thoracentesis: A Position Statement of the Society of Hospital Medicine
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: 1) We recommend that ultrasound should be used to guide thoracentesis to reduce the risk of complications, the most common being pneumothorax. 2) We recommend that ultrasound guidance should be used to increase the success rate of thoracentesis. 3) We recommend that ultrasound-guided thoracentesis should be performed or closely supervised by experienced operators. 4) We suggest that ultrasound guidance be used to reduce the risk of complications from thoracentesis in mechanically ventilated patients. 5) We recommend that ultrasound should be used to identify the chest wall, pleura, diaphragm, lung, and subdiaphragmatic organs throughout the respiratory cycle before selecting a needle insertion site. 6) We recommend that ultrasound should be used to detect the presence or absence of an effusion and approximate the volume of pleural fluid to guide clinical decision-making. 7) We recommend that ultrasound should be used to detect complex sonographic features, such as septations, to guide clinical decision-making regarding the timing and method of pleural drainage. 8) We suggest that ultrasound be used to measure the depth from the skin surface to the parietal pleura to help select an appropriate length needle and determine the maximum needle insertion depth. 9) We suggest that ultrasound be used to evaluate normal lung sliding pre- and postprocedure to rule out pneumothorax. 10) We suggest avoiding delay or interval change in patient position from the time of marking the needle insertion site to performing the thoracentesis. 11) We recommend against performing routine postprocedure chest radiographs in patients who have undergone thoracentesis successfully with ultrasound guidance and are asymptomatic with normal lung sliding postprocedure. 12) We recommend that novices who use ultrasound guidance for thoracentesis should receive focused training in lung and pleural ultrasonography and hands-on practice in procedural technique. 13) We suggest that novices undergo simulation-based training prior to performing ultrasound-guided thoracentesis on patients. 14) Learning curves for novices to become competent in lung ultrasound and ultrasound-guided thoracentesis are not completely understood, and we recommend that training should be tailored to the skill acquisition of the learner and the resources of the institution.
© 2018 Society of Hospital Medicine
Acknowledgments
Collaborators from the Society of Hospital Medicine Point-of-care Ultrasound Task Force: Saaid Abdel-Ghani, Robert Arntfield, Jeffrey Bates, Anjali Bhagra, Michael Blaivas, Daniel Brotman, Carolina Candotti, Richard Hoppmann, Susan Hunt, Trevor P. Jensen, Venkat Kalidindi, Ketino Kobaidze, Joshua Lenchus, Benji Mathews, Paul, Mayo, Satyen Nichani, Vicki Noble, Martin Perez, Aliaksei Pustavoitau, Kreegan Reierson, Sophia Rodgers, Gerard Salame, Kirk Spencer, Vivek Tayal, David M. Tierney.
Disclosures
Ricardo Franco-Sadud reports institutional funds received from the Society of Hospital Medicine Annual Meeting for travel expenses and accommodations outside the submitted work. Nitin Puri reports Payment for lectures including service on speakers bureaus from Fujifilm Sonosite and royalties from Elsevier, both outside the submitted work. All other authors have nothing to disclose.
Funding
Brian P Lucas: Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Research and Development and Dartmouth SYNERGY, National Institutes of Health, National Center for Translational Science (UL1TR001086). Nilam Soni: Department of Veterans Affairs, Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) Partnered Evaluation Initiative Grant (HX002263-01A1)
Disclaimer
The contents of this publication do not represent the views of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government.
The authors thank all the members of the Society of Hospital Medicine Point-of-care Ultrasound Task Force and the Education Committee members for their time and dedication to develop these guidelines.
CHAIRS: Nilam Soni, Ricardo Franco Sadud, Jeff Bates. WORKING GROUPS: Thoracentesis Working Group: Ria Dancel (chair), Daniel Schnobrich, Nitin Puri. Vascular Access Working Group: Ricardo Franco (chair), Benji Matthews, Saaid Abdel-Ghani, Sophia Rodgers, Martin Perez, Daniel Schnobrich. Paracentesis Working Group: Joel Cho (chair), Benji Matthews, Kreegan Reierson, Anjali Bhagra, Trevor P. Jensen. Lumbar puncture Working Group: Nilam Soni (chair), Ricardo Franco, Gerard Salame, Josh Lenchus, Venkat Kalidindi, Ketino Kobaidze. Credentialing Working Group: Brian P Lucas (chair), David Tierney, Trevor P. Jensen. PEER REVIEWERS: Robert Arntfield, Michael Blaivas, Richard Hoppmann, Paul Mayo, Vicki Noble, Aliaksei Pustavoitau, Kirk Spencer, Vivek Tayal. METHODOLOGIST: Mahmoud El Barbary. LIBRARIAN: Loretta Grikis. SOCIETY OF HOSPITAL MEDICINE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: Dan Brotman (past chair), Satyen Nichani (current chair), Susan Hunt. SOCIETY OF HOSPITAL MEDICINE STAFF: Nick Marzano.
