Lung ultrasonography for early detection of extravascular lung water overload in intensive care patients early afer surgery: a preliminary study

Aim. To investigate whether lung ultrasound can be used to detect extravascular lung water overload in the intensive care unit early afer surgery. Methods. Tis prospective study involved 60 patients without known cardiac or pulmonary diseases admitted to the intensive care unit at our Hospital afer elective abdominal or vascular surgery. PaO2/FiO2 ratio, and appearance of B-lines were determined upon admission to the intensive care unit and at 6, 12, and 24 h later. Fluid overload was defned as the presence of Blines ≤7 mm. Tissue oxygenation impairment was defned as a PaO2/FiO2 ratio < 200. Results. Fluid overload was detected in 42 patients (70%). Te dense B-lines predicted fuid overload around the same time as drop of PaO2/FiO2 ratio (p = 0.115). Appearance of dense B lines correlated strongly with PaO2/FiO2 ratio (p < 0.001). Conclusion. Our preliminary results suggest that lung ultrasonography may be a promising non-invasive method for early detection of extravascular lung water overload in spontaneous breathing intensive care patients soon afer surgery. Our fndings should be verifed in larger studies