Lung ultrasound as modality in diagnosis of respiratory distress syndrome in newborn infants

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the value of lung ultrasound in the diagnosis of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in newborn infants.Methods: From April 2019 to March 2020, all newborns admitted in neonatal intensive care unit within 72 hours of life having suspection of RDS on the basis of clinical features were enrolled in study. A total of 59 newborns were included in our study irrespective of gestational age and birth weight.Results: According to the findings of chest X-ray, there were 10 cases of grade I RDS, 16 grade II cases, 12 grade III cases, and 6 grade IV cases. Lung ultrasound was performed at bedside by a single expert. The ultrasound indexes observed in this study included pleural line, A-line, B-line, lung consolidation, air bronchograms, bilateral white lung, interstitial syndrome, lung sliding, lung pulse, comet tail artifacts etc. In our study it was found that ultrasound sonography (USG) chest has a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 93.33% in diagnosing RDS which is consistent with other studies. In our study it was found that USG chest has a positive predictive value of 97.78%, negative predictive value of 100% and diagnostic accuracy of 98.31% for diagnosis of RDS.Conclusion: This study indicates that using an ultrasound to diagnose neonatal RDS is accurate and reliable tool. A lung ultrasound has many advantages over other techniques. Ultrasound is non-ionizing, low-cost, easy to operate, and can be performed at bedside, can be repeated several times in a day making this technique ideal for use in NICU.