LUNG ULTRASONOGRAPHY DECREASES RADIATION EXPOSURE

Background:

Chest X-ray is commonly used as first line imaging method to diagnose the reason of respiratory distress in NICUs. Lung ultrasound is a new diagnostic tool for lung imaging, and this method has been used more common recently in NICUs.

Objectives:

We aimed to determine the decrease in the number of chest X-rays in newborns with respiratory distress, with the use of lung ultrasonography.

Methods:

From January 2019 to June 2020, 104 newborn infants with respiratory distress enrolled in this study. We used bed side ultrasound as the first line tecnique for lung imaging. X-ray were taken in cases with increasing respiratory distress in spite of treatment according to diagnosis depending on USG findings. We calculated decreased number of chest X-ray for every patient and evaluated the estimated decrease in radiation exposure.

Inclusion criteria

• Term or preterm neonates with respiratory distress that started within the first 24 h after birth were included if they showed at admission signs of respiratory distress defined as: tachypnea (respiratory rate >60 breaths/min), intercostal/subcostal retractions, grunting, or FiO2 requirement >0.21.

Exclusion criteria

• Patients with a diagnosis of major malformations or chromosomal abnormalities, inherited metabolic diseases, congenital muscle disease-hypotonicity, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy were not enrolled.