Modified Lung Ultrasound Score for Assessing and Monitoring Pulmonary Aeration.

Purpose Lung Ultrasound Score (LUSS) is a useful tool for lung aeration assessment but presents two theoretical limitations. First, standard LUSS is based on longitudinal scan and detection of number/coalescence of B lines. In the longitudinal scan pleura visualization is limited by intercostal space width. Moreover, coalescence of B lines to define severe loss of aeration is not suitable for non-homogeneous lung pathologies where focal coalescence is possible. We therefore compared longitudinal vs. transversal scan and also cLUSS (standard coalescence-based LUSS) vs. qLUSS (quantitative LUSS based on % of involved pleura). Materials and methods 38 ICU patients were examined in 12 thoracic areas in longitudinal and transversal scan. B lines (number, coalescence), subpleural consolidations (SP), pleural length and pleural involvement (> or ≤?50?%) were assessed. cLUSS and qLUSS were computed in longitudinal and transversal scan. Results Transversal scan visualized wider (3.9 [IQR 3.8?–?3.9] vs 2.0 [1.6?–?2.5] cm, p??50?% was observed in 17?% and coalescence in 33?% of cases. Focal coalescence accounted for 52?% of cases of coalescence. qLUSS-transv generated a different distribution of aeration scores compared to cLUSS-long (p?