ArticleJournal of ultrasound in medicine : official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine2021
Usefulness of Lung Ultrasound Examinations Performed by Primary Care Physicians in Patients With Suspected COVID-19.
Article in Journal of ultrasound in medicine : official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic Review of Commercially Available Clinical CMUT-Based Systems for Use in Medical Ultrasound Imaging: Products, Applications, and Performance.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Pooled it
- Echocardiography, lung ultrasound, and cardiac magnetic resonance findings in COVID-19: A systematic review.Echocardiography (Mount Kisco, N.Y.) · 2021Pooled it
- Lung ultrasound performed by primary care physicians as a predictive and diagnostic tool in COVID-19 patients.NPJ primary care respiratory medicine · 2026Observational
- Synergistic Imaging: Combined Lung Ultrasound and Low-Dose Chest CT for Quantitative Assessment of COVID-19 Severity-A Prospective Observational Study.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Lung ultrasound is cost-effective for early diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia in primary care.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2025Article
- Evaluating general practitioners' focused lung ultrasound competence and findings in patients with suspected community-acquired pneumonia in general practice.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2025Article
- Intraoperative Lung Ultrasound in the Detection of Pulmonary Nodules: A Valuable Tool in Thoracic Surgery.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Accuracy of point-of-care ultrasound examination of the lung in primary care performed by general practitioners: a cross-sectional study.BMC primary care · 2025Observational
- Impact of Lung Ultrasound along with C-Reactive Protein Point-of-Care Testing on Clinical Decision-Making and Perceived Usefulness in Routine Healthcare for Patients with Lower Respiratory Tract Infections: Protocol for Analytical Observational Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Article
- The value of lung ultrasound in COVID-19 pneumonia, verified by high resolution computed tomography assessed by artificial intelligence.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Observational
- The use of lung ultrasound in COVID-19.ERJ open research · 2023Review
- Point-of-Care Ultrasound Predicts Clinical Outcomes in Patients With COVID-19.Journal of ultrasound in medicine : official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine · 2022Article
- The correlation between point-of-care ultrasound and digital tomosynthesis when used with suspected COVID-19 pneumonia patients in primary care.The ultrasound journal · 2022Article
- Clinical trials during pandemic in primary care: Low number and low validity after one-year experience.The European journal of general practice · 2021Article
- Prevalence and significance of pulmonary disease on lung ultrasonography in outpatients with SARS-CoV-2 infection.BMJ open respiratory research · 2021Article
- Lung Ultrasound Examination in Patients with SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Multicenter Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Article
- The Risk of Hospitalization in COVID-19 Patients Can Be Predicted by Lung Ultrasound in Primary Care.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Observational
- Higher Accuracy of Lung Ultrasound over Chest X-ray for Early Diagnosis of COVID-19 Pneumonia.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Lung Ultrasound Performed by Primary Care Physicians for Clinically Suspected Community-Acquired Pneumonia: A Multicenter Prospective Study.Annals of family medicineObservational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesIn patients with suspected coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) consulting primary care (PC) centers, clinical criteria may not be sensitive enough to detect many cases in which complications first occur. We intended to assess whether lung ultrasound (LUS) examinations performed by PC physicians are a useful tool to detect lung injury and may help in decisions about hospital referral.
methodsThis study included 61 patients with moderate symptoms suggesting COVID-19 who were evaluated with LUS by PC physicians and then referred to a hospital during the current pandemic peak in Madrid. We analyzed association of a simple self-designed LUS severity scale (grade 0, normal; grade 1, multiple separated B-lines, pleural irregularity, or both; and grade 2, coalescent B-lines, consolidations, pleural effusion, or a combination thereof) with the main outcome indicating adequacy of hospital referral, and also with chest x-ray (CXR) findings.
resultsThe proposed LUS severity scale was significantly associated with the main outcome of appropriate referral (P = 0.001): the higher the scale, the higher the percentage of adequate referrals. The LUS scale was also associated with a CXR severity scale (P = 0.034). The presence of coalescent B-lines was the only independent LUS finding significantly associated with the appropriate-referral outcome (P =0 .008) and also with a higher probability of hospital admission (P = 0.02) and with several CXR findings.
conclusionsThis study supports the use of LUS in PC as a tool to assess patients with suspected COVID-19. Its use can reduce uncertainty during clinical evaluations of moderate patients, facilitate early detection of lung involvement, allow early appropriate referral, and avoid unnecessary referral.
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