Abstract
Background: Lung ultrasound (US) proved useful in patients with
COVID-19, but limited data are available about its use in affected
children. Aim: Lung ultrasound (US) is in the front door in the
assessment of patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19), but
limited data are available about its use in affected children. We aimed
to describe lung US features and discuss its potential applications in
COVID-19 children considering the usually mild disease course. Methods:
We performed lung US to children with COVID-19 admitted between March
1st and April 27th, 2020. Clinical and radiological data were collected.
One or more subsequent lung US were obtained from all subjects. Results:
A series of 13 confirmed COVID-19 children were recruited. 8/13 patients
showed signs of respiratory interstitial syndrome as for focal or
coalescent B-lines or white lung, also in the absence of relevant
clinical symptoms. Conclusions: As clinical characteristics of pediatric
COVID-19 differ from adults, it is of interest to determine whether
pediatric lung US shares the same imaging pattern of adults and whether
COVID-19 pneumonia may differ from other virus pneumonia. Our small
series highlighted that lung US documented signs of interstitial
pneumonia in paucisymptomatic or asymptomatic pediatric patients. In
conclusion, we pinpoint the usefulness of point of care lung US for the
evaluation of infected children correlated with clinical information.