Ultrasound assessment of pulmonary fibroproliferative changes in severe COVID-19: a quantitative correlation study with histopathological findings

Abstract

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate the usefulness of lung ultrasound (LUS) imaging to characterize the progression and severity of lung damage in cases of COVID-19. Methods: We employed a set of combined ultrasound parameters and histopathological images obtained simultaneously in 28 patients (15 women, 0.6–83 years) with fatal COVID-19 submitted to minimally invasive autopsies, with different times of disease evolution from initial symptoms to death (3–37 days, median 18 days). For each patient, we analysed eight post-mortem LUS parameters and the proportion of three histological patterns (normal lung, exudative diffuse alveolar damage [DAD] and fibroproliferative DAD) in eight different lung regions. The relationship between histopathological and post-mortem ultrasonographic findings was assessed using various statistical approaches. Results: Statistically significant positive correlations were observed between fibroproliferative DAD and peripheral consolidation (coefficient 0.43, p = 0.02) and pulmonary consolidation (coefficient 0.51, p = 0.005). A model combining age, time of evolution, sex and ultrasound score predicted reasonably well (r = 0.66) the proportion of pulmonary parenchyma with fibroproliferative DAD. Conclusion: The present study adds information to previous studies related to the use of LUS as a tool to assess the severity of acute pulmonary damage. We provide a histological background that supports the concept that LUS can be used to characterize the progression and severity of lung damage in severe COVID-19.