LAUSR

Background: Bronchiolitis is the most common viral infection of the lower respiratory tract in infants. Clinical severity is associated with different risk factors; however, no clinical, laboratory or radiological factor are able to predict the course of the disease in full term baby. LUS is a good method for the diagnosis and evaluation of pediatric respiratory diseases. Aims: Aim of our study is to evaluate the usefulness of ultrasonography in patients with bronchiolitis, correlating a LUS score with a clinical one, and to compare LUS findings with chest X ray (CXR). Methods: We conducted a prospective longitudinal study and enrolled 92 infants, 63 hospitalized with acute bronchiolitis and 29 for control group. All patients underwent a clinical evaluation with assignment of a clinical severity score and lung ultrasound with assigned a LUS score. Twenty-three out of 63 underwent also a CXR for clinical indications. Results: In patients with bronchiolitis the LUS score correlated with the clinical score (r = 0.62, p Conclusion: Our study showed that LUS can be used to assess the severity of infants with bronchiolitis.