Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Nov 16, 2023; 11(32): 7900-7904
Published online Nov 16, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i32.7900
Lung ultrasound for the early diagnosis of acute lung injury: A case report
Xin Zheng, Na Liu
Xin Zheng, Na Liu, Department of Anesthesiology, The Second Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116027, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Zheng X performed the data collection and drafted the article; Liu N revised the article.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Na Liu, MD, Doctor, Department of Anesthesiology, The Second Hospital of Dalian Medical University, No. 467 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116027, Liaoning Province, China. 18640964469@163.com
Received: September 11, 2023
Peer-review started: September 11, 2023
First decision: September 28, 2023
Revised: October 4, 2023
Accepted: November 3, 2023
Article in press: November 3, 2023
Published online: November 16, 2023
Processing time: 65 Days and 16 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

The extensive availability of ultrasound (US) technology has increased its use for point-of-care applications in many health care settings. During anaesthesia and surgery, acute respiratory failure or pulmonary oedema are common life-threatening events that, if not recognized and treated appropriately, result in a high mortality rate.

CASE SUMMARY

We report a patient under anaesthesia whose lung US examination showed multiple vertical artefacts (B-lines) in the lung tissue, indicating pulmonary oedema. The respiratory state improved with the resolution of the pulmonary oedema after our treatment.

CONCLUSION

We believe that US of the lungs may be a useful tool for dynamic respiratory monitoring at the bedside during anaesthesia.

Keywords: Lung ultrasound; Acute respiratory failure; Ultrasound; Lung; Case report

Core Tip: The extensive availability of ultrasound (US) technology has increased its use for points of care applications in many health care settings. During anesthesia and surgery, acute respiratory failure or pulmonary edema are common life-threatening events that, if not recognized and treated appropriately, result in a high mortality rate. We report on a patient under anesthesia whose lung US examination showed multiple vertical artifacts (B-lines) in the lung tissue, indicating pulmonary edema. The respiratory state was improved with the resolution of pulmonary edema after our treatment. We believe that US of the lungs may be a useful tool for dynamic respiratory monitoring at the bedside during anesthesia.