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Background: Lung ultrasound (LUS) in an emerging technique used in the intensive care unit (ICU). The derivative LUS aeration score has been shown to have associations with mortality in invasively ventilated patients. This study assessed the predictive value of baseline and early changes in LUS aeration scores in critically ill invasively ventilated patients with and without ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) on 30- and 90-day mortality., Methods: This is a post hoc analysis of a multicenter prospective observational cohort study, which included patients admitted to the ICU with an expected duration of ventilation for at least 24 h. We restricted participation to patients who underwent a 12-region LUS exam at baseline and had the primary endpoint (30-day mortality) available. Logistic regression was used to analyze the primary and secondary endpoints. The analysis was performed for the complete patient cohort and for predefined subgroups (ARDS and no ARDS)., Results: A total of 442 patients were included, of whom 245 had a second LUS exam. The baseline LUS aeration score was not associated with mortality (1.02 (95% CI: 0.99 - 1.06), p = 0.143). This finding was not different in patients with and in patients without ARDS. Early deterioration of the LUS score was associated with mortality (2.09 (95% CI: 1.01 - 4.3), p = 0.046) in patients without ARDS, but not in patients with ARDS or in the complete patient cohort., Conclusion: In this cohort of critically ill invasively ventilated patients, the baseline LUS aeration score was not associated with 30- and 90-day mortality. An early change in the LUS aeration score was associated with mortality, but only in patients without ARDS., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, ID NCT04482621., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Rationale: Lung ultrasound (LUS) is a promising tool for diagnosis of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), but adequately sized studies with external validation are lacking. Objectives: To develop and validate a data-driven LUS score for diagnosis of ARDS and compare its performance with that of chest radiography (CXR). Methods: This multicenter prospective observational study included invasively ventilated ICU patients who were divided into a derivation cohort and a validation cohort. Three raters scored ARDS according to the Berlin criteria, resulting in a classification of "certain no ARDS," or "certain ARDS" when experts agreed or "uncertain ARDS" when evaluations conflicted. Uncertain cases were classified in a consensus meeting. Results of a 12-region LUS exam were used in a logistic regression model to develop the LUS-ARDS score. Measurements and Main Results: Three hundred twenty-four (16% certain ARDS) and 129 (34% certain ARDS) patients were included in the derivation cohort and the validation cohort, respectively. With an ARDS diagnosis by the expert panel as the reference test, the LUS-ARDS score, including the left and right LUS aeration scores and anterolateral pleural line abnormalities, had an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.90 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.85-0.95) in certain patients of the derivation cohort and 0.80 (95% CI, 0.72-0.87) in all patients of the validation cohort. Within patients who had imaging-gold standard chest computed tomography available, diagnostic accuracy of eight independent CXR readers followed the ROC curve of the LUS-ARDS score. Conclusions: The LUS-ARDS score can be used to accurately diagnose ARDS also after external validation. The LUS-ARDS score may be a useful adjunct to a diagnosis of ARDS after further validation, as it showed performance comparable with that of the current practice with experienced CXR readers but more objectifiable diagnostic accuracy at each cutoff.

International guidelines do not recommend a specific probe for assessment of lung aeration using lung ultrasound (LUS). The aim of this study was to assess the concordance between linear and sector array probes of a handheld ultrasound device in assessment of lung aeration in invasively ventilated intensive care unit patients. This study included intensive care unit patients who were expected to be ventilated for longer than 24 h. A 12-region LUS exam was performed with a linear and a sector array probe. In each image, the LUS aeration score and number of B-lines were determined. Adding the LUS aeration scores of all regions resulted in a global LUS aeration score. Agreement between the two probes was calculated using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs). A total of 30 LUS exams were performed in 19 patients, resulting in a total of 328 pairs of images. Twenty-nine pairs of images were excluded from analysis because the images from the linear probe could not be scored. ICCs calculated for the remaining images revealed good concordance the LUS aeration scores for individual images (ICC = 0.73, 95% confidence interval 0.67-0.78), number of B-lines (ICC = 0.79, 95% confidence interval 0.72-0.83) and global LUS aeration score (ICC = 0.74, 95% confidence interval 0.52-0.87). In conclusion, there is good concordance between linear and sector array probes of a handheld ultrasound device in assessment of lung aeration patterns in mechanically ventilated intensive care unit patients. However, in roughly 10% of the images acquired using the linear probe, the aeration pattern could not be scored., (Copyright © 2020 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)