What is it about?
Lung ultrasound is a simple, non-invasive and available technique to evaluate lung aeration during acute respiratory failure in intensive care, and an aeration score can be derived from a quick scan of predefined regions of the chest. We used lung ultrasound score during the COVID-19 pandemic to evaluate its ability to describe the evolution of COVID-19 associated pneumonia. We've found that the score is well correlated with the clinical evolution of COVID-19 patients in ICU: it increased when patients' state deteriorated, and decreased when patients improved. It was also useful to detect complications such as hospital acquired pneumonia.
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Photo by Sasun Bughdaryan on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Lung ultrasound is an increasingly popular technique in the ICU. It may allow timelier and more accurate diagnosis for patients with acute respiratory failure in the ICU.
Perspectives
This article shows how a lung ultrasound score can reflect lung morphology, and allow close monitoring at the bedside. As a numeric variable, it can easily reflect changes in the morphology, and may help to detect complications (pneumonia, pneumothorax). Automatization of lung ultrasound is an exciting perspective that could enhance the use of this score.
Dr Auguste Dargent
Hospices Civils de Lyon
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Lung ultrasound score to monitor COVID-19 pneumonia progression in patients with ARDS, PLoS ONE, July 2020, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236312.
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