From bedside to bench: lung ultrasound for the assessment of pulmonary edema in animal models

Abstract

Traditionally, the lung has been excluded from the ultrasound organ repertoire and, hence, the application of lung ultrasound (LUS) was largely limited to a few enthusiastic clinicians. Yet, in the last decades, the recognition of the previously untapped diagnostic potential of LUS in intensive care medicine has fueled its widespread use as a rapid, non-invasive and radiation-free bedside approach with excellent diagnostic accuracy for many of the most common causes of acute respiratory failure, e.g., cardiogenic pulmonary edema, pneumonia, pleural effusion and pneumothorax. Its increased clinical use has also incited attention for the potential usefulness of LUS in preclinical studies with small animal models mimicking lung congestion and pulmonary edema formation. Application of LUS to small animal models of pulmonary edema may save time, is cost-effective, and may reduce the number of experimental animals due to the possibility of serial evaluations in the same animal as compared with traditional end-point measurements. This review provides an overview of the emerging field of LUS with a specific focus on its application in animal models and highlights future perspectives for LUS in preclinical research.

Role of lung ultrasound in assessment of endpoint of fluid therapy in patients with hypovolemic shock

“…Lung US is not only a faster way of assessing EVLW but it can also differentiate between adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) (as a prototypic form of permeability-type edema) and cardiogenic edema [15]. As cardiogenic edema presents as a uniform distribution of B-lines with normal lung sliding and homogenous pleural effusions, patients with ARDS present heterogeneous distribution of B-lines with pleural line abnormalities, lack of lung sliding, uneven tissue patterns such as "spared areas" and consolidations [16].…”

Point-of-care Lung Ultrasound Is Useful to Evaluate Emergency Department Patients for COVID-19

“…28 LUS has emerged as a clinical tool in human and veterinary medicine and in animal research with some advocates calling for it to replace the stethoscope. [29][30][31][32] Others have shown ultrasound to complement rather than Table 2. Comparison of diagnostic performance of bedside point-of-care lung ultrasound, chest radiograph, and crackles on auscultation for diagnosis of lung involvement of SARS-CoV-2 using CT chest as the gold standard.…”

Point-of-care lung ultrasound in COVID-19 patients: inter- and intra-observer agreement in a prospective observational study

“…Overall, ten observers from three different medical specialties (intensive care medicine [n = 4], emergency medicine [n = 3], and physiology [n = 3]) participated in the rating of LUS images. Observers included seven physicians (six board-certified) with extensive bedside clinical experience (12 ± 6 years) and three researchers with expertise in LUS in rodent models from the Institute of Physiology 21 . Each observer had performed more than 1000 ultrasound examinations and more than 100 LUS examinations.…”

“…Observers and image analysis. Overall www.nature.com/scientificreports/ (12 ± 6 years) and three researchers with expertise in LUS in rodent models from the Institute of Physiology 21 . Each observer had performed more than 1000 ultrasound examinations and more than 100 LUS examinations.…”