Lung Ultrasound in Patients With SARS-COV-2 Pneumonia Correlations With Chest Computed Tomography, Respiratory Impairment, and Inflammatory Cascade

<p>Objectives&mdash;Lung ultrasound (LUS) might be comparable to chest computed&nbsp;tomography (CT) in&nbsp; detecting parenchymal and pleural pathology, and in monitoring interstitial lung disease. We aimed to describe LUS characteristics of&nbsp;patients during the hospitalization for COVID-19 pneumonia, and to compare&nbsp;the extent of lung involvement at LUS and chest-CT with inflammatory&nbsp;response and the severity of respiration impairment.<br> Methods&mdash;During a 2-week period, we performed LUS and chest CT in hospitalized&nbsp;patients affected by COVID-19 pneumonia. Dosages of high sensitivity&nbsp;C-reactive protein (HS-CRP), D-dimer, and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were also&nbsp;obtained. The index of lung function (P/F ratio) was calculated from the blood&nbsp;gas test. LUS and CT scoring were assessed using previously validated scores.&nbsp;<br> Results&mdash;Twenty-six consecutive patients (3 women) underwent LUS&nbsp;34 -&nbsp;14 days from the early symptoms. Among them, 21 underwent CT on&nbsp;the same day of LUS. A fair association was found&nbsp; between LUS and CT&nbsp;scores (R = 0.45, P = .049), which became stronger if the B-lines score on&nbsp;LUS was not considered (R = 0.57, P = .024). LUS B-lines score correlated&nbsp;with IL-6 levels (R = 0.75, P = 0.011), and the number of involved lung segments&nbsp;detected by LUS correlated with the P/F ratio (R = 0.60, P = .019)&nbsp;but not with HS-CRP and D-Dimer levels. No correlations were found&nbsp;between CT scores and inflammations markers or P/F.<br> Conclusion&mdash;In patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, LUS was correlated with&nbsp;both the extent of the inflammatory response and the P/F ratio.&nbsp;</p>