Infection and Drug Resistance (Apr 2022)
Egyptian Consensus on the Role of Lung Ultrasonography During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic
Abstract
Samy Zaky,1,* Hanaa K Fathelbab,2 Mohamed Elbadry,3,* Fathiya El-Raey,4,* Sherief M Abd-Elsalam,5 Hoda A Makhlouf,6 Nahed A Makhlouf,7 Mohamed A Metwally,8 Fatma Ali-Eldin,9 Ali Abdelazeem Hasan,6 Mohamed Alboraie,10 Ahmed M Yousef,11 Hanan M Shata,12 Alshaimaa Eid,1,* Noha Asem,13 Asmaa Khalaf,14 Mohamed A Elnady,15 Mohamed Elbahnasawy,16 Ahmed Abdelaziz,4 Shaker W Shaltout,17 Eman E Elshemy,1,* Atef Wahdan,18 Mohamed S Hegazi,4 Amin Abdel Baki,19,* Mohamed Hassany19 On behalf of Ministry of Health and Population COVID-19 board and Egyptian Society of fever (ESF) and UCHID-COVID-19 special interest group1Department of Hepatogastroenterology and Infectious Diseases; Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt; 2Department of Endemic diseases; Minia University, Minia, Egypt; 3Department of Endemic Medicine, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt; 4Department of Hepatogastroenterology and Infectious Diseases Al-Azhar University, Damietta, Egypt; 5Department of Tropical Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt; 6Department of Chest, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt; 7Department of Tropical Medicine and Gastroenterology, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt; 8Department of Hepatology, Gastroenterology, and Infectious Diseases, Benha University, Benha, Egypt; 9Department of Tropical medicine; Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt; 10Department of Internal Medicine; Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt; 11Department of Community and Industrial Medicine, Damietta, Al-Azhar University, Damietta, Egypt; 12Department of Chest Medicine; Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt; 13Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Cairo University and Ministry of Health and Population, Cairo, Egypt; 14Department of Radiology, Minia University, Minia, Egypt; 15Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt; 16Department of Emergency Medicine and Traumatology, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt; 17Department of Tropical Medicine, Port Said University, Port Said, Egypt; 18Department of Chest Diseases, Damietta, Al-Azhar University, Damietta, Egypt; 19Department Hepatology, Gastroenterology and Infectious diseases National Hepatology and Tropical Medicine Research Institute NHTMRI, Cairo, Egypt*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Sherief M Abd-Elsalam, Department of Tropical Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt, Tel +201063319696, Email [email protected] & Aims: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global health problem, presenting with symptoms ranging from mild nonspecific symptoms to serious pneumonia. Early screening techniques are essential in the diagnosis and assessment of disease progression. This consensus was designed to clarify the role of lung ultrasonography versus other imaging modalities in the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: A multidisciplinary team consisting of experts from different specialties (ie, pulmonary diseases, infectious diseases, intensive care unit and emergency medicine, radiology, and public health) who deal with patients with COVID-19 from different geographical areas was classified into task groups to review the literatures from different databases and generate 10 statements. The final consensus statements were based on expert physically panelists’ discussion held in Cairo July 2021 followed by electric voting for each statement.Results: The statements were electronically voted to be either “agree,” “not agree,” or “neutral.” For a statement to be accepted to the consensus, it should have 80% agreement.Conclusion: Lung ultrasonography is a rapid and useful tool, which can be performed at bedside and overcomes computed tomography limitations, for screening and monitoring patients with COVID-19 with an accepted accuracy rate.Keywords: lung ultrasound, consensus, coronavirus disease 2019, Egypt
