Findings of lung ultrasonography of novel coronavirus pneumonia during the 2019-2020 epidemic Summary of the literature:
- The features of lung ultrasound are not specific for COVID 19 pneumonitis or pneumonia but highly suggestive in patients presenting with a history suggestive of infection with novel coronavirus
- Lung ultrasound is strongly recommended for the early diagnosis of COVID -19 pneumonia in all the patients who present to the emergency department with flu-like symptoms in the novel COVID-19 era.
- Lung ultrasound has been used as a triage tool in the Emergency Department to identify those patients requiring admission and those patients able to be discharged home
- Lung ultrasound is more sensitive than chest x-ray, with a diffuse B-line pattern correlating to good response to PEEP
- Lung ultrasound patterns range from mild alveolar patterns to severe bilateral interstitial pattern to lung consolidation corresponding to less severe to more severe disease
- Lung findings are more prominent in the posterior lower lung zones
- The spread of the infection appears to be from the peripheries of the lung to the center of the lung in most cases
- Lung findings are more similar to pulmonary edema than ARDS (hence recruitment maneuvers in ICU - lying the patient prone)
- Lung ultrasound patterns also depend on comorbidities
- CT is necessary as expected to identify lesions deep to the pleural surface
- From an ICU perspective, lung ultrasound has been used instead of X-Ray or CT to track the evolution
