The correlation between the transthoracic lung ultrasound score (LUS) and the severity of changes in HRCTon patients with interstitial lung diseases v1

The correlation between the transthoracic lung ultrasound score (LUS) and the severity of changes in HRCTon patients with interstitial lung diseases Interstitial lung disease is a heterogeneous group of disorders. Chest high-resolution computed tomography is considered the "gold" standard radiological method for diagnosis of ILD. The objective of our study was to evaluate the correlation between the transthoracic ultrasound score and the severity of changes in HRCT simplified scores, the presence of symptoms and the pulmonary function impairment in patients with interstitial lungdisease(ILD). We have evaluated 58 consecutively patients diagnosed with ILD and compared with a non-healthy control group (n=30).Transtoracic lung ultrasound (LUS) total score was correlated with HRCT score (r=0.784, p<0.001) and chest positive areas (intercostal spaces with ≥5B-line) were correlated with HRCT score (r=0.805, p<0.005). Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) for LUS total score using 5 as a HRCT score cut-off was 0.86 (p<0.001), respectively for positive chest areas with intercostal space with ≥5B-line was 0.88 (p<0.001). The sensitivity (Se) was 76.7%, the specificity (Sp) 92.9%. After dividing the ILD patients according to the HRCT pattern in usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP), non-specific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP) and other radiological interstitial abnormality we found a good correlation statistically significant only for first group (r=0.51, p=0.02). LUS had a positive correlation with age (r=0.481, p<0.001), negative correlation with DLCO (r=-0.39, p=0.007) and with alveolar volume (r=-0.39,p=0.007). The chest positive areas score was positive correlated with age (r=0.599, p<0.001), negative correlation with diffusing capacity of the lung for carbone monoxide (DLCO)( r=-0.44, p=0.002) andwiththealveolarvolume(r=-0.49,p=0.001).