Lung ultrasound, a current key tool for the diagnosis of pneumonia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36958/sep.v8i1.345Keywords:
lung ultrasound, point of care ultrasound, pneumonia, diagnosis of pneumoniaAbstract
Pneumonia is a major global public health problem, with high morbidity and mortality in all age groups. Early diagnosis and timely treatment are essential to reduce pulmonary complications and sequelae. Chest radiography (RXT) is the conventional diagnostic method, but it can lead to both overdiagnosis and underdiagnosis, and is not always available in rural or out-of-hospital areas. In this context, pulmonary ultrasound (USP) has emerged as a useful and accessible tool, with recent studies that shows an even higher diagnostic accuracy than RXT. We present the case of a 56-year-old patient whose symptoms and findings from the physical examination suggest the clinical impression of pneumonia. Pulmonary ultrasound is performed, which reveals B lines, corresponding in this clinical context to pneumonia. Subsequently, chest radiography confirms findings compatible with this pathology. This case highlights the usefulness of USP as a diagnostic tool for pneumonia and contributes to the available literature that supports the use of USP in the diagnosis of pulmonary pathologies where it can be decisive when properly correlated with clinical and physical examination. Its incorporation can improve early detection and proper management of this condition, especially in areas outside hospitals where the conventional radiological method is not available. In addition, it has advantages such as portability, no radiation and the possibility of being used by medical personnel with basic training in ultrasound.
Downloads
References
Amatya, Y., Rupp, J., Russell, F. M., Saunders, J., Bales, B., & House, D. R. (2018). Diagnostic use of lung ultrasound compared to chest radiograph for suspected pneumonia in a resource-limited setting. International journal of emergency medicine, 11(1), 8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12245-018-0170-2
Beck, S., & Whalley, G. (2023). POCUS is everywhere. Australasian journal of ultrasound in medicine, 26(2), 73–74. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajum.12349
Cerón, A. (2020). Mortalidad por neumonías en Guatemala (2014-2018): una herramienta del enfoque epidemiológico de riesgo para la priorización de acciones frente a la COVID-19. Revista Análisis de la Realidad Nacional, 9(189), 54-79. http://ipn.usac.edu.gt/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IPN-RD-189-1.pdf
Chevallier Lugon, C., Kharat, A., Soccal, P. M., Guessous, I., Spechbach, H., & Salamun, J. (2021). Implementing Lung Ultrasound in the Outpatient Management of COVID-19 Pneumonia: A Pilot Study to Update Local Guidelines. Frontiers in medicine, 8, 774035. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2021.774035
Cucciolini, G., Corradi, F., Marrucci, E., & Ovesen, S. H. (2025). Basic lung ultrasound and clinical applications in general medicine. The Medical Clinics of North America, 109(1), 11–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mcna.2024.07.006
Desai, D., Shah, A. B., Dela, J. R. C., Mugibel, T. A., Sumaily, K. M., Sabi, E. M., Mujamammi, A. H., Malafi, M. E., Alkaff, S. A., Alwahbi, T. A., Bahabara, J. O., & Dahman, L. S. B. (2024). Lung Ultrasonography Accuracy for Diagnosis of Adult Pneumonia: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Advances in respiratory medicine, 92(3), 241–253. https://doi.org/10.3390/arm92030024
Dietrich, C. F., Mathis, G., Blaivas, M., Volpicelli, G., Seibel, A., Wastl, D., Atkinson, N. S., Cui, X. W., Fan, M., & Yi, D. (2016). Lung B-line artefacts and their use. Journal of thoracic disease, 8(6), 1356–1365. https://doi.org/10.21037/jtd.2016.04.55
Gentilotti, E., De Nardo, P., Cremonini, E., Górska, A., Mazzaferri, F., Canziani, L. M., Hellou, M. M., Olchowski, Y., Poran, I., Leeflang, M., Villacian, J., Goossens, H., Paul, M., & Tacconelli, E. (2022). Diagnostic accuracy of point-of-care tests in acute community-acquired lower respiratory tract infections. A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 28(1), 13–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmi.2021.09.025
House, D. R., Amatya, Y., Nti, B., & Russell, F. M. (2021). Lung ultrasound training and evaluation for proficiency among physicians in a low-resource setting. The ultrasound journal, 13(1), 34. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13089-021-00236-4
Htun, T. P., Sun, Y., Chua, H. L., & Pang, J. (2019). Clinical features for diagnosis of pneumonia among adults in primary care setting: A systematic and meta-review. Scientific reports, 9(1), 7600. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44145-y
Kameda, T., Mizuma, Y., Taniguchi, H., Fujita, M., & Taniguchi, N. (2021). Point-of-care lung ultrasound for the assessment of pneumonia: a narrative review in the COVID-19 era. Journal of medical ultrasonics (2001), 48(1), 31–43. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10396-020-01074-y
Kanwal, K., Asif, M., Khalid, S. G., Liu, H., Qurashi, A. G., & Abdullah, S. (2024). Current Diagnostic Techniques for Pneumonia: A Scoping Review. Sensors, 24(13), 4291. https://doi.org/10.3390/s24134291
Lim W. S. (2022). Pneumonia—Overview. Encyclopedia of Respiratory Medicine, 185–197. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-801238-3.11636-8
Lim, J. S., Lee, S., Do, H. H., & Oh, K. H. (2017). Can Limited Education of Lung Ultrasound Be Conducted to Medical Students Properly? A Pilot Study. BioMed research international, 2017, 8147075. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/8147075
Long, L., Zhao, H. T., Zhang, Z. Y., Wang, G. Y., & Zhao, H. L. (2017). Lung ultrasound for the diagnosis of pneumonia in adults: A meta-analysis. Medicine, 96(3), e5713. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000005713
Russell, F. M., Ferre, R., Ehrman, R. R., Noble, V., Gargani, L., Collins, S. P., Levy, P. D., Fabre, K. L., Eckert, G. J., & Pang, P. S. (2020). What are the minimum requirements to establish proficiency in lung ultrasound training for quantifying B-lines?. ESC heart failure, 7(5), 2941–2947. https://doi.org/10.1002/ehf2.12907
Seeger, A., & Rohde, G. (2023). Ambulant erworbene Pneumonie [Community-acquired pneumonia]. Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift (1946), 148(6), 335–341. https://doi.org/10.1055/a-1940-8944
Shi, C., Xu, X., & Xu, Y. (2024). Systematic review and meta-analysis of the accuracy of lung ultrasound and chest radiography in diagnosing community acquired pneumonia in children. Pediatric pulmonology, 59(12), 3130–3147. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppul.27221
Staub, L. J., Mazzali Biscaro, R. R., Kaszubowski, E., & Maurici, R. (2019). Lung Ultrasound for the Emergency Diagnosis of Pneumonia, Acute Heart Failure, and Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease/Asthma in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. The Journal of emergency medicine, 56(1), 53–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jemermed.2018.09.009
Torres, A., Cilloniz, C., Niederman, M. S., Menéndez, R., Chalmers, J. D., Wunderink, R. G., & van der Poll, T. (2021). Pneumonia. Nature Reviews. Disease Primers, 7(1), 25. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41572-021-00259-0
Yang, Y., Wu, Y., & Zhao, W. (2024). Comparison of lung ultrasound and chest radiography for detecting pneumonia in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Italian journal of pediatrics, 50(1), 12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13052-024-01583-3
Published
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Kevin Mayk Roblero Roblero, Lesbia Oralia Monzón Súmale
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The authors who publish in this journal accept the following conditions:
- The authors retain the copyright and assign to the journal the right of the first publication, with the work registered with the Creative Commons 4.0 attribution license, which allows third parties to use what is published as long as they mention the authorship of the work already the first publication in this magazine.
- Authors may make other independent and additional contractual agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the article published in this journal (eg, include it in an institutional repository or publish it in a book) provided that they clearly indicate that the work it was first published in this magazine.
- Authors are allowed and encouraged to share their work online (for example: in institutional repositories or personal web pages) before and during the manuscript submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, more and more quick citation of published work (see The Effect of Open Access).
