Interest of Pleuropulmonary Echography Versus Standard Chest X-ray in the Post-operative Follow-up of Pleuropulmonary Surgery

In postoperative pleuro-pulmonary surgery, the monitoring of the appearance of complications is guided, depending on the centres, by the systematic daily performance or, in the event of a call point, by chest x-ray at the patient's bed until the drains are ablative.

This repeated performance of radiographs results in irradiation of patients but also of medical staff and a significant cost.

In the thoracic study, ultrasound imaging is a fast, cost-effective, non-irradiating solution that can be performed at the patient's bedside. It could guide the performance of chest x-ray, limit their number, with increased clinical relevance.