Lung ultrasound: a new basic, easy, multifunction imaging diagnostic tool in children undergoing pediatric cardiac surgery.

Abstract

In their article entitled “Lung ultrasound profile after cardiopulmonary bypass in paediatric cardiac surgery: first experience in a simple cohort” (1) recently published on the Interactive Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Journal, Vitale V. and colleagues discussed the incidence and the degree of pulmonary congestion in 20 neonates and infants (median age 3.25, inter quartile range 3.0–7.25 months) after pediatric cardiac surgery. Lung ultrasound (LUS) examinations were performed at 0, 1 and 2 post-operative days. The authors divided the thorax into four major scanning areas (1) (right and left apex and right and left bases) and identified three different profiles of lung congestion based on a previously classification reported by Raimondi and colleagues (2). The profile A (white lung), was defined as the presence of confluent B lines in two or more of the four areas, profile B as the prevalence of B lines in two or more of the scanned area and profile C (no congestion, normal lung) as the prevalence of A lines.