Lung Ultrasounds Could Help Determine COVID-19 Outcome

MELVILLE, N.Y., December 10, 2020 — For some, COVID-19 can result in severe pneumonia or even death, while others remain purely asymptomatic. A diagnostic tool could help physicians predict if a patient with COVID-19 will worsen.

Researchers at the Policlinico San Matteo, in Pavia, Italy, have developed a method using ultrasound imaging to score a patient’s lung health, which is indicative of their outcome. The ability to predict when a patient might worsen can help physicians be better prepared for caring for patients.

Umberto Sabatini’s presentation, “Is lung ultrasound a predictor of worsening in Covid-19 patients?” will be a part of the 179th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America. This session will be presented Dec. 10 at noon Eastern U.S. The meeting will be held virtually over Dec. 7-10.

The researchers tested the tool on 52 patients who had been admitted to San Matteo Hospital between March 15 and April 29. They administered lung ultrasounds to the patients on arrival and before discharge to get a peek into the state of their lungs. Using 14 points in the lungs, the researchers looked for abnormalities, such as pleural irregularities, and assigned each spot a score out of 3 based on its severity.

Adding up all the points, the researchers found the total lung ultrasound score was higher for those who had a worsening outcome of COVID-19, such as needing supplementary oxygen, admission to intensive care, or death. Patients with at least three spots scoring 3 or with high overall scores were more than six times more likely to have a worsening outcome than other patients.

From their results, the researchers proposed a graph called a nomogram that can help physicians compute the probability a patient will worsen based on their lung ultrasound score.

The diagnostic will help physicians rapidly evaluate and predict how a patient will worsen due to COVID-19. The test is also quick to perform. A scan of each spot takes 10 seconds, making the whole exam last only 15 to 20 minutes.

###

———————– MORE MEETING INFORMATION ———————–

USEFUL LINKS

Main meeting website: https://acousticalsociety.org/overview-ave/ 
Technical program: https://acousticalsociety.org/technical-program/ 
Press Room: http://acoustics.org/world-wide-press-room/

WORLDWIDE PRESS ROOM

In the coming weeks, ASA’s Worldwide Press Room will be updated with additional tips on dozens of newsworthy stories and with lay language papers, which are 300-500 word summaries of presentations written by scientists for a general audience and accompanied by photos, audio, and video. You can visit the site during the meeting at http://acoustics.org/world-wide-press-room/.

PRESS REGISTRATION

We will grant free registration to credentialed journalists and professional freelance journalists. If you are a reporter and would like to attend, contact the AIP Media Line at 301-209-3090. For urgent requests, staff at [email protected] can also help with setting up interviews and obtaining images, sound clips or background information.

VIRTUAL MEDIA BRIEFINGS

Press briefings will be held virtually during the conference. Credentialed media can register in advance by emailing [email protected] include your full name and affiliation in the message. The official schedule will be announced as soon as it is available and registered attendees will be provided login information via email.

ABOUT THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science and technology of sound. Its 7,000 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world’s leading journal on acoustics), Acoustics Today magazine, books, and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. For more information about ASA, visit our website at  .

###

withyou android app