Effects of Replacing Routine Chest Radiography With Lung Ultrasound for Patients Undergoing Thoracic Surgery: A Randomised Controlled Trial

Modern lung surgery involves a variety of procedures that expose patients to the risk of developing postoperative complications (PPC). In lung surgery such as resections or lobectomies where a part of the lung tissue is removed, so-called single-lung ventilation is used. Through this technique, the lung that is operated on collapses, while ventilation is directed to the lung that is not operated on. When the operation is over, the structures of the lung are sewn together and the collapsed lung is inflated again. At this stage, it is important to ensure that the expansion of the lung is adequate. It is also important for the continued expansion of the lung that there is no air leakage from the lung to the pleural cavity. Therefore, there is initially a drainage in the pleural cavity to prevent both bleeding and air leakage. Postoperatively, several X-ray examinations are performed before the patient is discharged to ensure adequate lung expansion.

Lung ultrasound is a well-established method that is based on physical artifacts that arise in the interaction between ultrasound and various conditions in the lung tissue. The method is used in most of the questions that are usually asked even in chest X-rays and other conventional techniques but has the advantages of being both cost- and time-effective and does not involve the radiation dose that conventional X-rays involve.

The study aims to investigate whether lung ultrasound can replace conventional chest X-rays in patients who have undergone lung surgery. The research subjects will be randomized to undergo postoperative lung ultrasound or conventional chest X-rays after lung surgery.

Previous research has shown the possibility of abandoning X-ray radiation in favor of ultrasound in most scenarios. However, randomized studies are generally lacking, especially in this population.