Division of Emergency Ultrasound, Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States..
Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
Am J Emerg Med. 2020 Dec;38(12):2759.e5-2759.e8. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2020.05.079. Epub 2020 May 28.
Many patients with COVID-19, the clinical illness caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection, exhibit mild symptoms and do not require hospitalization. Instead, these patients are often referred for 14-days of home isolation as symptoms resolve. Lung ultrasound is well-established as an important means of evaluating lung pathology in patients in the emergency department and in intensive care units. Ultrasound is also being used to assess admitted patients with COVID-19. However, data on the progression of sonographic findings in patients with COVID-19 on home isolation is lacking. Here we present a case series of a group of physician patients with COVID-19 who monitored themselves daily while in home isolation using lung point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS). Lung POCUS findings corresponded with symptom onset and resolution in all 3 patients with confirmed COVID-19 during the 14-day isolation period. Lung POCUS may offer a feasible means of monitoring patients with COVID-19 who are on home isolation. Further studies correlating sonographic findings to disease progression and prognosis will be valuable.
许多 COVID-19 患者(由 SARS-CoV-2 感染引起的临床疾病)表现出轻微症状,不需要住院治疗。相反,这些患者通常在症状缓解后被转介进行 14 天的家庭隔离。肺部超声作为评估急诊科和重症监护病房患者肺部病理的重要手段已得到充分确立。超声也被用于评估患有 COVID-19 的住院患者。然而,关于在家隔离的 COVID-19 患者的超声发现进展的数据尚缺乏。在这里,我们报告了一组医生 COVID-19 患者的病例系列,这些患者在家庭隔离期间每天使用肺部即时超声(POCUS)进行自我监测。肺部 POCUS 发现与所有 3 名确诊 COVID-19 患者在 14 天隔离期间的症状发作和缓解相对应。肺部 POCUS 可能为在家隔离的 COVID-19 患者提供一种可行的监测手段。进一步将超声发现与疾病进展和预后相关联的研究将具有重要价值。