Pilot Study On The Value of Echocardiography Combined With Lung Ultrasound In The Diagnosis And Treatment of COVID-19 Pneumonia (preprint)

ABSTRACT

Background: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between echocardiography results and lung ultrasound score (LUS) in coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia patients and to evaluate the impact of their combined application in the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia.Methods: Hospitalized COVID-19 pneumonia patients who underwent lung ultrasound and echocardiography daily were included in this study. Patients with tricuspid regurgitation within 3 days of admission were enrolled, and the correlation and differences between their pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) and LUS on days 3, 8, and 13 were compared. The inner diameter of the pulmonary artery root and the size of the atria and ventricles were also observed.Results: Pulmonary artery pressure within 3 days (on day 3, 8 and 13) of admission was positively correlated with LUS (r = 0.448, p = 0.003; r = 0.738, p = 0.000; r = 0.325, p = 0.036). On day 8 the values of both PAP and LUS were higher than their corresponding values on days 3 and 13 (p < 0.01). On day 8 the positive rate for increased PAP and LUS was 92.9% (39/42) and 90.5% (38/42), respectively, and the combined positive rate for these two was 97.6% (41/42). On day 8 the inner diameters of the right atrium, right ventricle, and pulmonary artery differed significantly from their corresponding values on days 3 and 13 (p < 0.05).Conclusions: PAP is positively correlated with LUS. The two should be combined for a more informative assessment of the status of recovery from COVID-19 pneumonia.