• Tiziano Perrone, Francesco Falaschi, Federica Meloni, Alessia Ballesio, Umberto Sabatini, Marco Vincenzo Lenti, Federica Melazzini, Sara Lettieri, Stefano Novati, Sara Cutti, Carola Maria Marioli, Catherine Klersy, Raffaele Bruno, Oltrona ViscontiLuigiLDivision of Cardiology, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy., and Antonio Di Sabatino.
• Department of Internal Medicine and Medical Therapeutics, University of Pavia, Clinica Medica I, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Viale Golgi 19, 27100, Pavia, Italy.
• Intern Emerg Med. 2023 Jan 1; 18 (1): 163168163-168.

AbstractLung ultrasound (LUS) has rapidly emerged in COVID-19 diagnosis and for the follow-up during the acute phase. LUS is not yet used routinely in lung damage follow-up after COVID-19 infection. We investigated the correlation between LUS score, and clinical and laboratory parameters of severity of SARS-COV-2 damage during hospitalization and at follow-up visit. Observational retrospective study including all the patients discharged from the COVID-19 wards, who attended the post-COVID outpatient clinic of the IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo in April-June 2020. 115 patients were enrolled. Follow-up visits with LUS score measurements were at a median of 38 days (IQR 28-48) after discharge. LUS scores were associated with the length of hospitalization (p < 0.001), patients' age (p = 0.036), use of non-invasive ventilation (CPAP p < 0.001 or HFNC p = 0.018), administration of corticosteroids therapy (p = 0.030), and laboratory parameters during the acute phase (WBC p < 0.001, LDH p < 0.001, CRP p < 0.001, D-dimer p = 0.008, IL-6 p = 0.045), and inversely correlated with lymphocyte count (p = 0.007). We found correlation between LUS score and both LDH (p = 0.001) and the antibody anti-SARS-CoV-2 titers (p value = 0.008). Most of these finding were confirmed by dichothomizing the LUS score (≤ 9 or > 9 points). We found a significantly higher LUS score at the follow-up in the patients with persistent dyspnea (7.00, IQR 3.00-11.00) when compared to eupnoeic patients (3.00, IQR 0-7.00 p < 0.001). LUS score at follow-up visit correlates with more severe lung disease. These findings support the hypothesis that ultrasound could be a valid tool in the follow-up medium-term COVID-19 lung damage.© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Medicina Interna (SIMI).

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