Value of lung ultrasound in diagnosis of acute respiratory failure by BLUE protocol

Abstract

Lung ultrasound generates standardized, repro-ducible patterns, explaining the high inter observe agreement, feasibility is high. Using lung ultrasound saves time and decreases the need for CT whose drawbacks include delayed care implementation, irradiation, cost and required supine position. Lung ultrasound is nearly equivalent to CT in detecting most disorders, can be repeated as well, and provides additional information. Lung ultrasound immediately provided diagnosis of acute respiratory failure in 94.5% of cases. It can be added to the armamentarium of critical care. The additional value of saving time should provide prompter relief for these severely dyspneic patients. Ultrasound examination of the chest is a non- invasive, and promising bed side tool for examination of ICU patients. Portable US machines can be used to assess the critically ill patients without transfer and more or less with high accuracy. the Lung ultrasound is actually the stethoscope of today.