Application of Critical Care Ultrasound in Patients With COVID-19: Our Experience and Perspective

IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2020 Nov;67(11):2197-2206. doi: 10.1109/TUFFC.2020.3020628. Epub 2020 Sep 1.

Abstract

Up to April 4, 2020, the novel coronavirus disease-2019 COVID-19 has affected more than 1 099000 patients and has become a major global health concern. World Health Organization (WHO) has defined COVID-19 as a global pandemic. Critical care ultrasound (CCUS) can rapidly acquire the image of lung and other organs and demonstrate the pathophysiological changes to guide precise therapy in COVID-19 pneumonia without radiation or interfering with personal protective equipment. In addition, the application of CCUS can cover the whole courses from the fever clinic to the intensive care unit to improve the treatment. We would like to present the CCUS features about COVID-19 pneumonia and share the application experience of CCUS in Wuhan, China, and hope it works for physicians worldwide to solve the problem and improve the outcome.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Betacoronavirus
  • COVID-19
  • China
  • Coronavirus Infections / diagnostic imaging*
  • Critical Care / methods*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Lung / diagnostic imaging
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Pandemics
  • Patient Positioning
  • Pneumonia, Viral / diagnostic imaging*
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Ultrasonography / methods*

Grants and funding

This work was supported in part by the Scientific and Technological Project of New Coronavirus Pneumonia in West China Hospital of Sichuan University under Grant HX-2019-nCoV-045 and in part by the Key project of Sichuan Science and Technology Department under Grant 2019YFS0449.