PLoS ONE (Jan 2022)

Follow-up lung ultrasound to monitor lung failure in COVID-19 ICU patients.

  • Michaela Barnikel,
  • Annabel Helga Sophie Alig,
  • Sofia Anton,
  • Lukas Arenz,
  • Henriette Bendz,
  • Alessia Fraccaroli,
  • Jeremias Götschke,
  • Marlies Vornhülz,
  • Philipp Plohmann,
  • Tobias Weiglein,
  • Hans Joachim Stemmler,
  • Stephanie-Susanne Stecher

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271411
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17, no. 7
p. e0271411

Abstract

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ObjectivesPoint-of-care lung ultrasound (LU) is an established tool in the first assessment of patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19). To assess the progression or regression of respiratory failure in critically ill patients with COVID-19 on Intensive Care Unit (ICU) by using LU.Materials and methodsWe analyzed all patients admitted to Internal Intensive Care Unit, Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) of Munich, from March 2020 to December 2020 suffering lung failure caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2). LU was performed according to a standardized protocol at baseline and at follow up every other day for the first 15 days using a lung ultrasound score (LUSS). Ventilation data were collected simultaneously.ResultsOur study included 42 patients. At admission to ICU, 19 of them (45%) were mechanically ventilated. Of the non-invasive ventilated ones (n = 23, 55%), eleven patients required invasive ventilation over the course. While LUS did not differ at admission to ICU between the invasive ventilated ones (at baseline or during ICU stay) compared to the non-invasive ventilated ones (12±4 vs 11±2 points, p = 0.2497), LUS was significantly lower at d7 for those, who had no need for invasive ventilation over the course (13±5 vs 7±4 points, p = 0.0046). Median time of invasive ventilation counted 18 days; the 90-day mortality was 24% (n = 10) in our cohort. In case of increasing LUS between day 1 (d1) and day 7 (d7), 92% (n = 12/13) required invasive ventilation, while it was 57% (n = 10/17) in case of decreasing LUS. At d7 we found significant correlation between LU and FiO2 (Pearson 0.591; p = 0.033), p/F ratio (Pearson -0.723; p = 0.005), PEEP (Pearson 0.495; p = 0.043), pplat (Pearson 0.617; p = 0.008) and compliance (Pearson -0.572; p = 0.016).ConclusionLUS can be a useful tool in monitoring of progression and regression of respiratory failure and in indicating intubation in patients with COVID-19 in the ICU.