Use of ultrasonography in the diagnosis of pneumonia in intensive care patients

Aims: A significant portion of respiratory system infections seen in intensive care units is ventilator-associated pneumonia, which has a high mortality rate and diagnosis may be delayed. Bedside lung ultrasonography offers the advantages of standard diagnostic methods as chest radiography or thorax tomography. We aim to evaluate the bedside lung ultrasonography correlation with the chest radiography or thorax tomography Methods: It was conducted prospectively on 60 patients between the ages of 18-85 who were admitted to intensive care with respiratory failure within an 8-month period. Anterioposterior chest radiographs were taken on the first day of mechanical ventilation for the patients included in the study. Ultrasonographic (USG) examination was performed separately for both hemithoraxes and recorded digitally. Simultaneously with the ultrasonographic examination, PEEP, FiO2, blood gas examination results and the highest body temperatures in the last 24 hours were recorded. The quality and quantity of tracheal secretions were evaluated, and sampling was performed for complete blood examination and tracheal aspirate culture-antibiogram. Lung injury score (LIS) and pulmonary infection score (CPIS) were calculated from the data obtained. In this process, independent of the research, the same day examination results of patients who required thorax tomography (CT) for diagnosis and treatment planning were evaluated together with USG and chest radiography. Tomographic examinations were evaluated by a radiologist. Results: In the examination of 120 hemithoraxes of 60 patients we included in the study, we were able to detect 74.17% of the pathological images obtained with chest radiography and ultrasonographic examination with bedside ultrasonography and 70.84% with chest radiography. Of the 20 patients who underwent tomographic evaluation, pathology was observed in 40 hemithoraxes in 92.5% by tomography, in 85% by ultrasonography, and in 75% by chest radiography. While isolated consolidation was detected equally on USG and CT imaging, there was a high false-positive rate of 48% on chest radiography. 58.8% of the patients with consolidation detected by CT, we observed that there was growth in the tracheal aspirate of 56.2% of the patients whose ultrasonographic examination revealed consolidation. Conclusion: Bedside lung ultrasonography is a fast, non-invasive, repeatable and reliable diagnostic method in patients followed in intensive care, and is compatible with traditionally used laboratory and clinical parameters. This reveals that USG, which is known to have other advantages such as cost, applicability, and not using radiopaque, will become an indispensable examination for ICU.