Elsevier

Radiology Case Reports

Volume 15, Issue 11, November 2020, Pages 2314-2318
Radiology Case Reports

Case Report
Lung point-of-care (POCUS) ultrasound in a pediatric COVID-19 case

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radcr.2020.09.007Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Abstract

The World Health Organization categorized coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a pandemic due to its high contagion rate and widespread infectivity in February 2020. In the United States, one of the public health concerns is the adequacy of resources to treat infected cases. We describe a case of a previously well, 9-year-old obese boy who presented to the emergency department with shortness of breath, fever, abdominal pain, and cough with chest pain. He was diagnosed with COVID-19 through significant family contact, confirmed by polymerase chain reaction and found to be at high risk of venous thromboembolism due to abnormal d-dimer. Lung point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in the emergency department observed significant lung pathology, including pleural thickening, consolidation, and B lines. A chest X-ray found bilateral ground glass opacities and interstitial prominences consistent with viral pneumonia. Our case suggests that lung POCUS can provide adequate and rapid imaging to assess lung pathology of COVID-19 in a pediatric patient. As there is limited literature on use of lung POCUS in pediatric patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, our case emphasizes its function as a potentially efficient modality in bedside assessment.

Keywords

POCUS
Covid-19
Lung ultrasound

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The authors have no outside support information, conflicts or financial interest to disclose. Of note, the manuscript publication fee was generously provided by a nonprofit community foundation, The Dorothy Rider Pool Health Care Trust Awards for Clinical Transformational Excellence.

Authors would like to acknowledge Erin Shigo, BA and Marna Rayl Greenberg for formatting and editing.

Author contributions: All authors provided substantial contributions to manuscript content. All authors gave final approval of the version of the article to be published.

Acknowledgement: Authors would like to acknowledge Erin Shigo, BA and Marna Rayl Greenberg for formatting and editing.