The Use of Lung Ultrasonography in the Delivery Room in Neonates

Plain-language summary

Lung ultrasonography has become frequently used in neonatal intensive care units because it is a diagnostic, useful, harmless, radiation-free, bedside, reproducible and practical method. (1, 2) In our clinic, lung ultrasonography imaging is performed in infants hospitalized with respiratory distress. Lung ultrasonography is widely used especially in conditions that mainly cause respiratory distress such as respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), pneumonia, neonatal transient tachypnea (NTRT), congenital pneumonia, meconium aspiration syndrome and pneumothorax. (1, 2) The reliability and specificity of AUS imaging especially in the diagnosis of NTRT have been proven in many studies. AUS imaging has become an objective value by scoring today. Images will be obtained using the linear probe of the device to be used for lung ultrasound and transferred to a cell phone, both lungs will be evaluated as three areas on the right and left (anterior upper, anterior lower and lateral) and scored separately. Anteriorly, the region between the anterior axillary line and the parasternal line is divided into two by the line passing through the nipple. Above is considered as the upper anterior region and below as the lower anterior region. The area in the middle of the anterior and posterior axillary line is evaluated as the lateral region. Each area is scored from 0 to 3 points. If A lines are present, 0 points are given, if there are more than 3 B lines in an area, 1 point is given, if B lines are very dense and there are no A lines, it is considered as white lung and 2 points are given. If there is a consolidation image on AUS, 3 points were given. The maximum total score was 18 (8,9) (Figure 1). In this study, both AUS imaging and scoring will be performed in the delivery room within the first 30 minutes and AUS score evaluation will be performed at postnatal 2nd, 6th and 24th hours in the intensive care unit for inpatients and in the maternal ward for maternal patients. The hypothesis of this study is that newborns with high AUS scores will have high rates of respiratory morbidities and respiratory support in the neonatal unit. The primary aim of the study was to determine the role and importance of AUS scores measured in the delivery room in predicting respiratory morbidities of infants. The secondary aim was to investigate the value of the course of AUS scores at postnatal 2, 6 and 24 hours in predicting the respiratory prognosis of the newborn infant.

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