Lung ultrasound for early diagnosis and severity assessment of pneumonia in patients with coronavirus disease 2019

• Published in: The Korean journal of internal medicine Vol. 35; no. 4; pp. 771 - 781
• Main Authors: Cho, Young-Jae, Song, Kyoung-Ho, Lee, Yunghee, Yoon, Joo Heung, Park, Ji Young, Jung, Jongtak, Lim, Sung Yoon, Lee, Hyunju, Yoon, Ho Il, Park, Kyoung Un, Kim, Hong Bin, Kim, Eu Suk
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) The Korean Association of Internal Medicine 01.07.2020; 대한내과학회
• Subjects: Adult; Aged, 80 and over; Betacoronavirus - isolation & purification; Child; Coronavirus Infections - diagnostic imaging; Coronavirus Infections - virology; COVID-19; Female; Humans; Infant; Lung - diagnostic imaging; Male; Middle Aged; Pandemics; pneumonia; Pneumonia, Viral - diagnostic imaging; Pneumonia, Viral - virology; Respiratory Distress Syndrome - diagnostic imaging; Respiratory Distress Syndrome - virology; respiratory insufficiency; Retrospective Studies; SARS-CoV-2; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; SPECIAL COVID-19; Ultrasonography; 내과학; COVID-19; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Pneumonia; Respiratory insufficiency; Ultrasonography
• ISSN: 1226-3303; 2005-6648
• DOI: 10.3904/kjim.2020.180

Current evidence supports lung ultrasound as a point-ofcare alternative diagnostic tool for various respiratory diseases. We sought to determine the utility of lung ultrasound for early detection of pneumonia and for assessment of respiratory failure among patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Six patients with confirmed COVID-19 by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction were enrolled. All had undergone chest X-ray and chest computed tomography (CT) on the day of admission and underwent multiple point-of-care lung ultrasound scans over the course of their hospitalization. Lung ultrasound detected early abnormal findings of representative B-lines in a patient with a normal chest X-ray, corresponding to ground-glass opacities on the chest CT scan. The ultrasound findings improved as her clinical condition improved and her viral load decreased. In another minimally symptomatic patient without significant chest X-ray findings, the ultrasound showed B-lines, an early sign of pneumonia before abnormalities were detected on the chest CT scan. In two critically ill patients, ultrasound was performed to assess for evaluation of disease severity. In both patients, the clinicians conducted emergency rapid sequence intubation based on the ultrasound findings without awaiting the laboratory results and radiological reports. In two children, ultrasound was used to assess the improvement in their pneumonia, thus avoiding further imaging tests such as chest CT. Lung ultrasound is feasible and useful as a rapid, sensitive, and affordable point-of-care screening tool to detect pneumonia and assess the severity of respiratory failure in patients hospitalized with COVID-19.