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. 2020 Nov 30;7(1):FSO635.
doi: 10.2144/fsoa-2020-0127.

The use of chest ultrasonography in suspected cases of COVID-19 in the emergency department

Enrico Allegorico  1 , Carlo Buonerba  2   3 , Giorgio Bosso  1 , Antonio Pagano  1 , Giovanni Porta  1 , Claudia Serra  1 , Pasquale Dolce  4 , Valentina Minerva  1 , Ferdinando Dello Vicario  1 , Concetta Altruda  1 , Paola Arbo  1 , Teresa Russo  1 , Chiara De Sio  5 , Nicoletta Franco  6 , Gianluca Ruffa  1 , Cinzia Mormile  1 , Francesca Cannavacciuolo  7 , Valentina Mercurio  4 , Gelsomina Gervasio  8 , Giuseppe Di Costanzo  8 , Alfonso Ragozzino  8 , Luca Scafuri  9 , Gaetano Facchini  10 , Fabio Numis  1
Affiliations

The use of chest ultrasonography in suspected cases of COVID-19 in the emergency department

Enrico Allegorico et al. Future Sci OA. .

Abstract

Aim: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus-specific reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) represents the diagnostic gold standard. We explored the value of chest ultrasonography to predict positivity to SARS-CoV-2 on RT-PCR in suspected COVID-19 cases.

Patients & methods: Consecutive patients with suspect COVID-19 were included if they had fever and/or history of cough and/or dyspnea. Lung ultrasound score (LUSS) was computed according to published methods.

Results: A total of 76 patients were included. A 3-variable model based on aspartate transaminase (AST) > upper limit of normal, LUSS >12 and body temperature >37.5°C yielded an overall accuracy of 91%.

Conclusion: A simple LUSS-based model may represent a powerful tool for initial assessment in suspected cases of COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; RT-PCR; SARS-CoV-2; lung ultrasound.

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Conflict of interest statement

Financial & competing interests disclosure C Buonerba is a member of the Future Science OA Editorial Board. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Receiver operating characteristic curves of the models.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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