Journal of the Bahrain Medical Society
Year 2021, Volume 33, Issue 4, Pages 5-8
https://doi.org/10.26715/JBMS.33_2021_4_2Shailendra Kumar Motwani1, Helen Saunders2*
1SR in the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit and Anesthesia Department, Mohammed Bin Khalifa Cardiac Center, Riffa, Bahrain.
2Consultant in the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit and Anesthesia Department, Mohammed Bin Khalifa Cardiac Center, Riffa, Bahrain.
*Corresponding author: Helen Saunders, MBCHB, FRCA, Consultant in the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit and Anesthesia Department, Mohammed Bin Khalifa Cardiac Center, Riffa, Bahrain. E-mail: drhelensaunders@gmail.com
Received date: 20 June 2021; Accepted date: 27 June 2021; Published date: December 31, 2021
Abstract
The current global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) presents a huge challenge for physicians. Rapid diagnosis, triage and clinical management of these patients is a challenge for physicians but may be aided using lung ultrasound. Lung ultrasound has been in use for over 10 years mainly by critical care practitioners and emergency physicians with variable uptake, but it has gained popularity during the Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as a diagnostic tool and can be easily learned compared to the other ultrasound techniques. Image interpretation is based on identifying artefacts generated by the pleural surface. This technique is non-invasive and can be performed rapidly at the patient’s bedside. It has higher accuracy in diagnosis than auscultation and Chest X-ray (CXR) combined. In this article the authors describe the interpretation of lung ultrasound images, particularly in patients with COVID-19 and discuss indications for this technique. Physicians are recommended to gain familiarity with this technique and use of online resources for guidance.
Keywords: COVID-19, Lung, SARS-COV-2, Ultrasonography, Triage.