BMC Anesthesiol . Lung ultrasound predicts clinical course but not outcome in COVID-19 ICU patients: a retrospective single-center analysis

[tetano]

BMC Anesthesiol


. 2021 Jun 28;21(1):178.
doi: 10.1186/s12871-021-01396-5.
Lung ultrasound predicts clinical course but not outcome in COVID-19 ICU patients: a retrospective single-center analysis


Stephanie-Susanne Stecher ¹ , Sofia Anton ² , Alessia Fraccaroli ³ , Jeremias Götschke ⁴ , Hans Joachim Stemmler ³ , Michaela Barnikel ⁴



Affiliations

• PMID: 34182946
• DOI: 10.1186/s12871-021-01396-5

Abstract

Background: Point-of-care lung ultrasound (LU) is an established tool in the first assessment of patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Purpose of this study was to evaluate the value of lung ultrasound in COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) patients in predicting clinical course and outcome.
Methods: We analyzed lung ultrasound score (LUS) of all COVID-19 patients admitted from March 2020 to December 2020 to the Internal Intensive Care Unit, Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) of Munich. LU was performed according to a standardized protocol at ICU admission and in case of clinical deterioration with the need for intubation. A normal lung scores 0 points, the worst LUS has 24 points. Patients were stratified in a low (0-12 points) and a high (13-24 points) lung ultrasound score group.
Results: The study included 42 patients, 69% of them male. The most common comorbidities were hypertension (81%) and obesity (57%). The values of pH (7.42 ± 0.09 vs 7.35 ± 0.1; p = 0.047) and p_aO₂ (107 [80-130] vs 80 [66-93] mmHg; p = 0.034) were significantly reduced in patients of the high LUS group. Furthermore, the duration of ventilation (12.5 [8.3-25] vs 36.5 [9.8-70] days; p = 0.029) was significantly prolonged in this group. Patchy subpleural thickening (n = 38; 90.5%) and subpleural consolidations (n = 23; 54.8%) were present in most patients. Pleural effusion was rare (n = 4; 9.5%). The median total LUS was 11.9 ± 3.9 points. In case of clinical deterioration with the need for intubation, LUS worsened significantly compared to baseline LU. Twelve patients died during the ICU stay (29%). There was no difference in survival in both LUS groups (75% vs 66.7%, p = 0.559).
Conclusions: LU can be a useful monitoring tool to predict clinical course but not outcome of COVID-19 ICU patients and can early recognize possible deteriorations.

Keywords: COVID-19; Clinical course; Deterioration; Lung ultrasound; Lung ultrasound score; Outcome.