ORIGINAL ARTICLE   Open access

Italian Journal of Emergency Medicine 2020 August;9(2):126-30

DOI: 10.23736/S2532-1285.20.00040-3

Copyright © 2020 THE AUTHORS

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language: English

Lung ultrasound Score and management strategies in the critically COVID-19 patients

Paola DELL’AQUILA ¹, Pasquale RAIMONDO ² ✉, Sandra DE MATTEIS ¹, Antonella PISTONE ¹, Paola DE LUCA ¹, Salvatore GRASSO ², Vito PROCACCI ¹

¹ Department of Emergency, Teaching Hospital of Bari, Bari, Italy; ² Department of Emergency and Organ Transplant, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy

During the first quarter of 2020, the high number of patients arrived at the Emergency Departments put a strain the national health system, forcing to structure a new fast, safe and capable methods of admission, a help for planning treatment, support vital functions or to choose the correct areas of intensity care. In all these patients, thoracic imaging has significantly contributed to the identification of sick subjects, highlighting focal or diffuse pulmonary parenchymal problems, with high sensitivity (97%) but less specificity (60%). An important role is assigned to lung ultrasound (LUS) in the identification and monitoring of the patient COVID-19. It is also known that LUS is able to detect pleural effusions, interstitial lung diseases and sub pleural consolidations, contributing to the integrated management of acute respiratory distress syndromes. The ultrasound gave the opportunity to identify patients with different disease severity classes and to choose the correct therapeutic strategies in DEA and the subsequent adequate assignment to areas of care at different intensities. However, further studies are needed to better define the diagnostic accuracy of LUS in the management of COVID-19 disease, from triage to monitoring the effects of therapeutic measures.

KEY WORDS: Ultrasonography; COVID-19; Emergency service, hospital