Compared with other modalities, such as CT scanning, using lung ultrasound to diagnose COVID-19, “has high diagnostic accuracy, is ergonomically favorable, and has fewer infection control implications,” according to a paper written by three physiotherapists published in the journal Anaesthesia.
“We quickly collated the early evidence and guidance for use of lung ultrasound in Covid-19 patients, because we wanted to take the information that was flying around the research and clinical communities and make it more useful for clinicians—right at the beginning of the pandemic curve,” lead author Mike Smith said in a report for Charter Society of Physiotherapy. “And since then lung ultrasound has emerged as critical to monitoring lung injury caused by COVID-19.”
The team’s paper “provides a summary of evidence and clinical guidance for the use and interpretation of lung ultrasound for patients with moderate, severe and critical COVID ‐19–associated lung injury. Mechanisms by which the potential lung ultrasound workforce can be deployed are explored, including a pragmatic approach to training, governance, imaging, interpretation of images and implementation of lung ultrasound into routine clinical practice.”
Read more from the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy and find the paper in Anaesthesia.
Featured image: Sonographic characteristics of moderate, severe and critical pleural and parenchymal changes in patients with COVID ‐19. Courtesy, Anaesthesia.
