Abstract
During the pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), lung ultrasound has been used to diagnose and monitor respiratory condition. The aim of the study was to describe lung ultrasound findings in children with a COVID-19 infection. Patients younger than 18 years old and positive for COVID-19, admitted to pediatric tertiary referral hospital were included. They were divided into two groups depending on the presence of respiratory symptoms. Lung ultrasound results were categorized into four degrees according to Soldati et al. score (J Ultrasound Med 39:1–7, 2020) and it was also described the presence and type of consolidation. Sixteen patients were recruited. The median age was 11 years old (IQR 2.8–12). Four children (25%) required admission to the intensive care unit. Six patients (37.5%) presented with respiratory symptoms. Most of them showed S.score of 2 and subpleural consolidations were observed in four cases (66.6%). Ten patients (62.5%) presented with non-respiratory symptoms, lung ultrasound showed S.score from 0 to 2. Three (30%) were diagnosed of multisystem inflammatory syndrome and lung ultrasounds showed S.score of 2 with bilateral pleural effusion.Conclusions: Children with COVID-19 and respiratory symptoms mostly showed a S.score of 2 and 3 with subpleural consolidations, upon the lung ultrasound assessment.What is Known:• Lung ultrasound is a useful tool for monitoring patients with respiratory symptoms in both adults and children. Lung ultrasounds are altered in adult patients with COVID-19.What is New:• Lung ultrasound might improve COVID-19 assessment, it could be a useful tool to diagnose and monitor patients throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Even COVID-19 patients with non-respiratory symptoms have lung alterations that are visible on lung ultrasound.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s00431-020-03839-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
In recent years, lung ultrasound (LUS) has emerged as a bedside tool that is useful to identify and monitor many respiratory pathologies [2, 3], especially in intensive care units.When the pandemic related to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) emerged in China in December 2019, computed tomography (CT) was initially recommended in order to detect early alterations in infected patients and to monitor lung changes [4]
Lung ultrasound is a useful tool for monitoring patients with respiratory symptoms in both adults and children
Lung ultrasounds are altered in adult patients with COVID-19
Summary
Lung ultrasound (LUS) has emerged as a bedside tool that is useful to identify and monitor many respiratory pathologies [2, 3], especially in intensive care units.When the pandemic related to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) emerged in China in December 2019, computed tomography (CT) was initially recommended in order to detect early alterations in infected patients and to monitor lung changes [4]. Lung ultrasound (LUS) has emerged as a bedside tool that is useful to identify and monitor many respiratory pathologies [2, 3], especially in intensive care units. Chest Xray (CXR) is a routinely used tool for diagnosing respiratory diseases, including COVID-19 pneumonia, but it has relatively low sensitivity and accuracy [6]. For these reasons, LUS has been increasingly used for the diagnosis of respiratory conditions, including COVID-19 [6, 7]. CT and LUS have been compared and have shown a good correlation [9] Both CT and LUS have high sensitivity to diagnose COVID-19 pneumonia [10]. Despite most of the available information referring to the adult population [7], there are recent studies that describe the use of LUS in children with COVID-19 [13]
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