The Use of Focused Lung Ultrasound in Patients Suspected of COVID-19

COVID-19 is defined as an infectious disease caused by SAR-CoV-2 virus. It results in pneumonia and sometimes respiratory failure. SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has led to massive strain on health care facilities. A large proportion of the population is at risk of COVID-19 and some estimates suggest that up to 15% will need hospitalization. Such number of patients strains the health care system to its maximum as capacity has limitations even in highly developed countries.

Early reports estimate that more than 80% of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 have abnormal findings on chest radiographs1. Thus, imaging seems to be an important part of the diagnostic work-up. In most hospitals however, access to CT-scanning of the thorax of all patients with COVID-19 or with suspicion of CODIV-19 is unrealistic due to restricted capacity. Chest radiographs are faster and easier to do, but may require transportation of the patient to the department of radiology which carries a risk of virus spreading in the hospital. On-site chest radiograph is often of such low quality that diagnosis or follow-up will be difficult.

Focused ultrasound examination of the lungs, FLUS, is a diagnostic tool that can show changes in the lung parenchyma due to pneumonia. FLUS is a bed-side examination performed by the physician which results in reduced risk of in-hospital virus contamination. Furthermore, results from FLUS are immediately available to the physician. This allows rapid decision-making which is essential in cases of high patient burdens as seen in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, SARS-CoV-2 positive patients with pneumonia may be at higher risk of respiratory failure than those without pneumonia. Identifying patients at high risk can qualify decisions about monitoring level and organization of intensive care resources. Conversely, patient with COVID-19 symptoms but without pneumonic FLUS finding could likely be managed as out-patients. Such a risk-stratification may optimize the allocation of limited healthcare resources and reserve in-hospital capacity to those patients who needs it.

Hypothesis:

FLUS can risk-stratify patients with COVID-19 symptoms. FLUS can predict respiratory failure in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. FLUS can diagnose COVID-19 pneumonia with high sensitivity and specificity using PCR-test and chest radiograph as reference.

Inclusion criteria

• Clinical suspicion of COVID-19 requiring contact to a hospital.

Exclusion criteria

• Age less than 18 years
• Previous enrollment in this study.