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Status unknownNCT04098185Updated Sep 24, 2019

Role of Pleural Fluid Attenuation Value on CT as a Diagnostic Tool in Traumatic Hemothorax

An observational study in Hemothorax; Traumatic, sponsored by Assiut University. Status unknown. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 75 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2019-09-24.

Sponsored by Assiut University · Observational

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified Sep 2019), so the status shown — last known as Not yet recruiting — may be out of date.
Study type
Observational
Model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
100
Ages
18 Years to 75 Years
Sex
All
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Study summary

To define the potential role of pleural fluid attenuation value determined on computed tomography (CT) for diagnosis of traumatic hemothorax and differentiate it from other pleural effusion.

Read the detailed description

Hemothorax is defined as blood accumulation in the pleural space. It is a consequence of blunt trauma in 90% of cases. Hemothorax due to blunt trauma mechanisms e.g traffic accidents,sport accidents and falls are among the commonest injuries of the chest. It is manifested in 30-50% of chest trauma cases. In such cases, bleeding might be caused by damage to pulmonary parenchyma or intercostal arteries associated with or without rib fractures and other chest wall tissue injuries including parietal pleura or other thoracic structures. Although other pleural effusion types may also manifest such as chylothorax in case of chest trauma, however fluid detected in pleural space is usually considered blood unless proven not to be. Despite the clinical and radiological findings provide important data about the content of pleural cavity, however tube thoracostomy and diagnostic thoracocentesis are still required to relieve pressure and characterize the fluid. Tube thoracostomy is an invasive procedure which can lead to immediate procedural injuries, infections and pain which can contribute to respiratory failure in patients with chest wall injury. Although needle thoracocentesis is less invasive than tube thoracostomy, however it carries small but definitive risks such as pneumothorax, bleeding and chest wall hematoma. Since hemothorax is a potentially life threatening, it must be diagnosed quickly and accurately and all these unnecessary complications should be avoided. Chest computed tomography [CT] has been accepted as the gold standard imaging study for evaluating chest trauma and usually performed in patients with grossly severe chest trauma, as it helps to detect even small hemothorax.

CT can also allow for more advanced characterization of pleural fluid and distinguish hemothorax from any other types of effusion by means of scaling Hounsfield units as in literature, any attenuation value for pleural fluid between 35 and 70 HU is considered typically blood, so it can be considered as an important non-invasive diagnostic tool for diagnosis of hemothorax in traumatic patients.

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Conditions studied

  • Hemothorax; Traumatic

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03

In context

Hemothorax

26 studies on the registry are indexed under Hemothorax; 5 are open to participants now.

Browse Hemothorax studies →

Lead sponsor

Assiut University is the lead sponsor of 5,078 studies on the registry; 2,178 are open to participants now.

Of its 14 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 0 (0%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 75 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No
Sampling method
Non-probability sample

Study population

All patients above 18 years old with history of blunt chest trauma and hemodynamically unstable.

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • All patients above 18 years old
  • History of blunt chest trauma
  • Having mild to moderate effusion
  • CT chest within 1st 24 hours of trauma
  • Patients underwent tube thoracostomy or thoracocentesis

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients in need of emergency transfer to surgery.
  • Hemodynamically stable.
  • Patients with penetrating trauma.
  • Patients with no need for tube thoracostomy or thoracocentesis.
  • Patients with minimal effusion.
  • Pregnant females.
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Study design

Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
100 participants (estimated)
Patient registry
No

Interventions

  • DeviceCT

    Non-contrast Multidetector Computed Tomography will be done for all patients using 16 or 64 MDCT scanner. Standard scanning parameters of chest CT are used with slice thickness 5 mm, 120kv and automated mAs.The evaluation of pleural effusion attenuation will be done using the average measure of 3 slices with greatest amount of fluid. A region of interest (ROI) is placed for measurement of Hounsfield unit values, where pleural fluid is observed to be most intense and the density values of the pleural fluid and of the aorta are quantitatively measured in the same section with taking care not to involve adjacent ribs, lung parenchyma or areas of pleural thickening.

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What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Role of pleural fluid attenuation value measurement on CT as a diagnostic tool for traumatic hemothorax

    Measurements of pleural effusion attenuation value on CT to diagnose traumatic hemothorax and differentiate it from other types of pleural effusion.

    Time frame: from 1 December 2019 to 1 December 2020

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Study locations

No study locations are listed for this record.

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References and documents

Publications

  • Sridhar S, Raptis C, Bhalla S. Imaging of Blunt Thoracic Trauma. Semin Roentgenol. 2016 Jul;51(3):203-14. doi: 10.1053/j.ro.2015.12.002. Epub 2015 Dec 18. No abstract available. PubMed 27287951 ↗
  • Meyer DM. Hemothorax related to trauma. Thorac Surg Clin. 2007 Feb;17(1):47-55. doi: 10.1016/j.thorsurg.2007.02.006. PubMed 17650696 ↗
  • Sangster GP, Gonzalez-Beicos A, Carbo AI, Heldmann MG, Ibrahim H, Carrascosa P, Nazar M, D'Agostino HB. Blunt traumatic injuries of the lung parenchyma, pleura, thoracic wall, and intrathoracic airways: multidetector computer tomography imaging findings. Emerg Radiol. 2007 Oct;14(5):297-310. doi: 10.1007/s10140-007-0651-8. Epub 2007 Jul 11. PubMed 17623115 ↗
  • Miller LA. Chest wall, lung, and pleural space trauma. Radiol Clin North Am. 2006 Mar;44(2):213-24, viii. doi: 10.1016/j.rcl.2005.10.006. PubMed 16500204 ↗
  • Mirvis SE. Imaging of acute thoracic injury: the advent of MDCT screening. Semin Ultrasound CT MR. 2005 Oct;26(5):305-31. doi: 10.1053/j.sult.2005.08.001. PubMed 16274001 ↗
  • Hooper C, Lee YC, Maskell N; BTS Pleural Guideline Group. Investigation of a unilateral pleural effusion in adults: British Thoracic Society Pleural Disease Guideline 2010. Thorax. 2010 Aug;65 Suppl 2:ii4-17. doi: 10.1136/thx.2010.136978. No abstract available. PubMed 20696692 ↗
  • Romero M, Bachler P. Pseudo-hemothorax at computed tomography due to residual contrast media. Clin Imaging. 2014 May-Jun;38(3):333-5. doi: 10.1016/j.clinimag.2014.01.004. Epub 2014 Jan 16. PubMed 24559752 ↗
  • Kaewlai R, Avery LL, Asrani AV, Novelline RA. Multidetector CT of blunt thoracic trauma. Radiographics. 2008 Oct;28(6):1555-70. doi: 10.1148/rg.286085510. PubMed 18936021 ↗
  • Gordon CE, Feller-Kopman D, Balk EM, Smetana GW. Pneumothorax following thoracentesis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Arch Intern Med. 2010 Feb 22;170(4):332-9. doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2009.548. PubMed 20177035 ↗
  • Liu F, Huang YC, Ng YB, Liang JH. Differentiatepleural effusion from hemothorax after bluntchest trauma; comparison of computed tomography attenuation values. Journal of AcuteMedicine 2016; 6: 1-6.
  • Cummings KW, Javidan-Nejad C, Bhalla S. Multidetector computed tomography of nonosseous thoracic trauma. Semin Roentgenol. 2014 Apr;49(2):134-42. doi: 10.1053/j.ro.2014.01.002. Epub 2014 Jan 28. No abstract available. PubMed 24836489 ↗
  • Bolus D, Morgan D, Berland L. Effective use of the Hounsfield unit in the age of variable energy CT. Abdom Radiol (NY). 2017 Mar;42(3):766-771. doi: 10.1007/s00261-017-1052-4. PubMed 28132073 ↗
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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Sep 24, 2019, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04098185
Lead sponsor
Assiut University
Responsible party
Ghada Abdelazem Abdelbary (Resident of Diagnostic Radiology, Assiut University) — Principal investigator
First posted
Sep 23, 2019
Start date
Dec 1, 2019 (estimated)
Primary completion
Dec 1, 2020 (estimated)
Completion
Jan 1, 2021 (estimated)
Last update
Sep 24, 2019

Study contacts

Ghada Abdelazem Abdelbary, Dr
Contact
khalid.kamal1987@yahoo.com
00201098815249
Eman proffesor Abo Elhamd, Prof Dr
Contact
dr.eman_08@yahoo.com
00201001980793

Oversight

FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is status unknown, as verified in Sep 2019. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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