Abstract
Background: The aim of this retrospective analysis was to assess if serial lung ultrasound assessments in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, including a novel simplified scoring system, correlate with PaO2:FiO2 ratio, as a marker of disease severity, and patient outcomes. Methods: Patients treated for COVID-19 pneumonia in a tertiary intensive care unit who had a lung ultrasound assessment were included. Standardised assessments of anterior and lateral lung regions were prospectively recorded. A validated lung ultrasound score-of-aeration and a simplified scoring system based on the number of disease-free lung regions were correlated with: PaO2:FiO2 ratio, successful weaning from mechanical ventilation, and status (alive or dead) at discharge. MedCalc© statistical software was used for statistical analysis. Results: 28 patients (109 assessments) were included. Correlation was seen between score-of-aeration and PaO2:FiO2 ratio (r = -0.61, p<0.0001) and between the simplified scoring system and PaO2:FiO2 ratio (r = 0.52 p<0.0001). Achieving a score-of-aeration of ≤9/24 or ≥2 disease-free regions was associated with successful weaning from mechanical ventilation and survival to ICU discharge (accuracy of 94% and 97% respectively). Conclusion: Retrospective analysis from this small cohort of patients demonstrates that scores-of-aeration and a simplified scoring system based on the number of disease-free antero-lateral regions from serial LUS assessments correlate with PaO2:FiO2 ratio as a marker of disease severity in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. In addition, lung ultrasound may help identify patients who will have favourable outcomes.
Highlights
The aim of this retrospective analysis was to assess if serial lung ultrasound assessments in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, including a novel simplified scoring system, correlate with PaO2:FiO2 ratio, as a marker of disease severity, and patient outcomes
117 Lung Ultrasound (LUS) assessments were performed - 79 (68%) were performed by the first author and 38 were performed by one of seven additional operators and the findings were ratified retrospectively. 28 patients had a clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia and were included in initial analysis. 27/28 patients had a positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from throat or tracheal swabs
One patient was excluded from our analysis of correlation with PaO2:FiO2 ratio and a further two patients were excluded from analysis regarding outcomes, due to insufficient LUS data (Figure 1)
Summary
The aim of this retrospective analysis was to assess if serial lung ultrasound assessments in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, including a novel simplified scoring system, correlate with PaO2:FiO2 ratio, as a marker of disease severity, and patient outcomes. A validated lung ultrasound score-of-aeration and a simplified scoring system based on the number of disease-free lung regions were correlated with: PaO2:FiO2 ratio, successful weaning from mechanical ventilation, and status (alive or dead) at discharge. Conclusion: Retrospective analysis from this small cohort of patients demonstrates that scores-of-aeration and a simplified scoring system based on the number of disease-free antero-lateral regions from serial LUS assessments correlate with PaO2:FiO2 ratio as a marker of disease severity in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Pleural effusions are uncommon and the reappearance of ‘A-lines’ (horizontal ‘reverberation’ artefacts) has been noted on resolution [6–9]
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