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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Ultrasound Int Open 2020; 06(02): E36-E40
DOI: 10.1055/a-1217-1603
Rapid Communication

Comparison of Chest Ultrasound and Standard X-Ray Imaging in COVID-19 Patients

Evgenii Shumilov 
1   Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Gottingen, Germany
,
Ali Seif Amir Hosseini
2   Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Gottingen, Germany
,
Golo Petzold
3   Department of Gastroenterology, Gastrointestinal Oncology and Endocrinology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Gottingen, Germany
,
Hannes Treiber
1   Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Gottingen, Germany
,
Joachim Lotz
2   Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Gottingen, Germany
,
Volker Ellenrieder
3   Department of Gastroenterology, Gastrointestinal Oncology and Endocrinology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Gottingen, Germany
,
Steffen Kunsch
3   Department of Gastroenterology, Gastrointestinal Oncology and Endocrinology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Gottingen, Germany
,
Albrecht Neesse
3   Department of Gastroenterology, Gastrointestinal Oncology and Endocrinology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Gottingen, Germany
› Author Affiliations Funding The authors declare that this study did not receive any funding.
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Abstract

Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic poses new challenges for the medical community due to its large number of patients presenting with varying symptoms. Chest ultrasound (ChUS) may be particularly useful in the early clinical management in suspected COVID-19 patients due to its broad availability and rapid application. We aimed to investigate patterns of ChUS in COVID-19 patients and compare the findings with results from chest X-ray (CRX).

Materials and Methods

24 patients (18 symptomatic, 6 asymptomatic) with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 by polymerase chain reaction underwent bedside ChUS in addition to CRX following admission. Subsequently, the results of ChUS and CRX were compared.

Results

94% (n=17/18) of patients with respiratory symptoms demonstrated lung abnormalities on ChUS. ChUS was especially useful to detect interstitial syndrome compared to CXR in COVID-19 patients (17/18 vs. 11/18; p<0.02). Of note, ChUS also detected lung consolidations very effectively (14/18 for ChUS vs. 7/18 cases for CXR; p<0.02). Besides pathological B-lines and subpleural consolidations, pleural line abnormality (89%; n=16/18) was the third most common feature in patients with respiratory manifestations of COVID-19 detected by ChUS.

Conclusion

Our findings support the high value of ChUS in the management of COVID-19 patients.

Key words

coronavirus - SARS-CoV-2 - COVID-19 - chest ultrasound - X-ray


Publication History

Received: 10 May 2020
Received: 10 June 2020

Accepted: 07 July 2020

Article published online:
02 September 2020

© 2020. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Stuttgart · New York

 

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