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CLUE: COVID‐19 lung ultrasound in emergency department
Author(s) -
Manivel Vijay,
Lesnewski Andrew,
Shamim Simin,
Carbonatto Genevieve,
Govindan Thiru
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
emergency medicine australasia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.602
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1742-6723
pISSN - 1742-6731
DOI - 10.1111/1742-6723.13546
Subject(s) - medicine , covid-19 , lung ultrasound , emergency department , emergency medicine , betacoronavirus , lung , medical emergency , intensive care medicine , virology , outbreak , infectious disease (medical specialty) , nursing , disease
Lung ultrasound (LUS) plays a critical role in the SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic. Evidence is mounting on its utility to diagnose, assess the severity and as a triage tool in the ED. Sonographic features correlate well to computed tomography (CT) chest findings and a bedside LUS performed by a trained clinician along with clinical examination, could be an alternative to chest X‐ray and CT chest in these highly infectious patients. In this article, we have described a step‐by‐step approach to LUS in COVID patients and the CLUE (COVID‐19 LUS in the ED) protocol, which involves an anatomical parameter, the severity of lung changes, objectively scored using the validated LUS scoring system and a physiological parameter, oxygen requirement. We believe this CLUE protocol can help risk‐stratify patients presenting to ED with suspected COVID‐19 and aid clinicians in making appropriate disposition decisions.