2020 Volume 43 Issue 4 Pages 155-157
Purpose: The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread, and the usefulness of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) performed by clinicians themselves on patients was reported overseas, but not in Japan. I report a case in which an abnormality was found by POCUS performed as a physical examination following auscultation in the fever outpatient clinic, which was later diagnosed as COVID-19.
Method: Of the 265 patients who visited the fever outpatient clinic of our hospital between March 9th and May 16th, 2020, respiratory POCUS was performed on all 37 examined by the author.
Results: POCUS demonstrated a coalescent B-line, chest CT revealed ground-glass opacity, PCR was positive, and the case was diagnosed as COVID-19.
Conclusion: The accuracy of POCUS is superior to that of auscultation and plain chest X-ray. Chest CT can diagnose pneumonia at an early stage, but it is more problematic in terms of nosocomial infection than POCUS. In Japan, where CT is widespread, POCUS can be an option for physical examination in situations where performing immediate CT increases the risk of nosocomial infection.
