[Proposal of a human cadaveric model for bedside ultrasound-based pneumothorax detection.]

In the last decade, the use of bedside ultrasound examination has become one of the defining elements of emergency and intensive-anesthesia care. Among the everyday applications, lung ultrasound examination, which received a huge boost in connection with the coronavirus pandemic, stands out in a profession-specific manner. The first step of the most frequently used protocols is the immediate diagnosis of life-threatening conditions (e.g., pneumothorax) so that appropriate intervention can take place as soon as possible. In accordance with the above, the teaching of lung ultrasound examination has also been included in the domestic curriculum of emergency professions.

With our present cadaveric preliminary study, we want to improve the domestic practice of bedside lung ultrasound examination and thus increase patient safety in the everyday clinical workflow.

In our experimental set-up, we used 5 selected fresh, unpreserved human cadavers, on which we created artificial pneumothorax as detailed later. Based on emergency lung ultrasound protocol, we recorded 10-second loops with a bedside ultrasound device, which were later scored by two independent intensive experts based on a given scoring system.

According to expert assessments, the image quality of the image database obtained with the help of our model, the clarity of lung profiles, and the semi-quantitative scoring all demonstrate a suitable level for further educational purposes, with a consensus ranging from moderate to excellent quality.

In the future, we also plan to use preserved cadavers, which can be favourable from the point of view of cost-effectiveness and storability.

According to our results, the cadaver model prepared in our way is sufficiently realistic, potentially suitable for clinical education, and also for creating an image data bank, which can also be used for digital education in the future. Orv Hetil. 2023; 164(46): 1824-1830.