Utility in pregnant women
LUS is a potential alternative to CT scan in pregnant women, given the
lack of radiation and option for short interval repeat testing
associated with the procedure. Given obstetricians/gynecologists use
ultrasound in their routine examinations, the systematic utilization of
this practice to expand to LUS evaluation has previously been
proposed[98]. Usefulness of LUS in assessing lung involvement in
pregnant women with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection has been
explored in several studies[99–101]. The addition of LUS scoring to
symptoms and exposure history in pregnant women had significant impact
on the prediction of a positive RT-PCR result, increasing the positive
predictive value of the model from 77.1% (95% CI, 67.0–84.8%) to
93.7% (95% CI, 83.7–97.8%)[100]. In a series of 8 pregnant women
with a positive COVID-19 RT-PCR, who underwent point‐of‐care LUS
examinations after routine obstetric ultrasound, Yassa M et al. was able
to detect serious lung involvement in 7 patients, significantly
influencing their management and providing an alternative imaging
modality in 2 patients not willing to undergo a CT chest[101].