Diagnostic Accuracy of Lung Ultrasound in Young Children with Respiratory Illness and Wheezing

Investigators prospectively studied the diagnostic accuracy of lung ultrasound in children ≤2 years of age presenting to a pediatric emergency department with uncomplicated respiratory tract infections (rhinorrhea or cough) and wheezing. A pediatric emergency medicine fellow, novice in ultrasound and blinded to clinical diagnosis, scanned children in six lung fields: bilateral anterior, mid-axillary, and posterior chest zones. A positive lung ultrasound was defined as having any of the following: ≥3 B-lines per intercostal space (interstitial fluid), consolidation, pleural line thickening/abnormalities, or pleural fluid.

Of 94 patients (median age, 11 months), 39 (42%) had positive lung ultrasounds: B-lines (80%), consolidation (64%), pleura…