Pediatric Emergency, Department of Emergency and General Pediatrics, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
Department of Woman and Child Health and Public Health, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
Pediatr Pulmonol. 2021 May;56(5):1045-1052. doi: 10.1002/ppul.25255. Epub 2021 Jan 12.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused a new global pandemic and is responsible for millions of infections and thousands of deaths in the world. The lung ultrasound (LUS) is a noninvasive and easily repeatable tool and can be carried out by the pediatrician at the bedside of children with a consequent reduction in the risk of transmission of the virus.
We hypothesized that ultrasound findings in these patients would (1) be associated with their disease severity and (2) change over time in alignment with clinical outcome.
The study was made in the emergency department (ED) in a tertiary level pediatric hospital. All patients with swab-confirmed COVID-19 infection were subjected to a LUS within 6 h from admission and after 96 h.
Among a total of 30 children, 18 (60%) were males, 4 reported exertional dyspnea, and only 1 chest pain. The mean oxygen saturation was 98.8 ± 1.0% in ambient air in the ED and no patient needed oxygen therapy during hospitalization. Children with moderate disease presented more B line (p = .03). After 96 h, we had observed ultrasound abnormality only in 20% of the children. We found a statistically significant reduction in pleural irregularities (30% vs. 16.7; p = .001) and in B lines (50% vs. 20%; p = .008).
The LUS is a useful, feasible, and safe tool for the clinician to complement the clinical evaluation and to monitor the evolution of lung disease in children with COVID-19.
2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）造成了新的全球大流行，在世界范围内导致了数百万人感染和数千人死亡。肺部超声（LUS）是一种非侵入性且易于重复的工具，可由儿科医生在床边对儿童进行操作，从而降低病毒传播的风险。
我们假设这些患者的超声表现（1）与疾病严重程度相关，（2）随时间推移与临床结果变化一致。
该研究在三级儿科医院的急诊科进行。所有经拭子确诊为 COVID-19 感染的患者在入院后 6 小时内和 96 小时后接受 LUS 检查。
在总共 30 名儿童中，18 名（60%）为男性，4 名有活动后呼吸困难，仅 1 名有胸痛。在急诊科环境空气中，平均血氧饱和度为 98.8±1.0%，住院期间无患者需要吸氧治疗。中度疾病患儿出现更多的 B 线（p=0.03）。96 小时后，我们仅在 20%的患儿中观察到超声异常。我们发现胸膜不规则性（30%比 16.7；p=0.001）和 B 线（50%比 20%；p=0.008）均有统计学显著减少。
LUS 是一种有用、可行且安全的工具，可帮助临床医生补充临床评估，并监测 COVID-19 患儿肺部疾病的演变。
