Thoracic ultrasound in guiding management of respiratory disease.

Inaddition to its current uses, there are many avenues where thoracic ultrasound willsoon be beneficial. Recent studies show promising roles in areas such aspatient-tailored guidance of pleurodesis and non-invasively predicting lungre-expansion after pleural fluid drainage. In addition, auxiliary tools such ascontrast-enhanced ultrasound and elastography are proving useful in identifyingthe etiology and directing the successful sample of pleural and lung lesions. Studiesare also exploring the utility of sonographic biomarkers such as echogenicity andseptations to predict outcomes in pleural disease.