European Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine

Background: Respiratory conditions are the most common cause for admission to a NICU in term and preterm infants and comprise around 33.3% of neonatal admissions at >28 weeks gestation. Chest radiography is considered the gold standard for diagnosing lung disease, but it unavoidably causes radiation damage to the neonate. Ultrasonography is non-invasive, non-ionizing, easily operable, and performed in real-time, making it an accurate, reliable technique for the diagnosis of neonatal lung diseases. Due to the lack of research on ultrasonography in Indian neonates with pulmonary diseases, this study was done to determine the role of ultrasound as a diagnostic tool in neonates with respiratory distress and decreasing radiation exposure. Objectives: 1) To determine the accuracy and effectiveness of lung ultrasonography as a diagnostic tool in neonates with pulmonary diseases. 2) To determine if Ultrasound based analysis can play an effective role in reducing radiation exposure in neonates with pulmonary diseases. Material & Methods: The study was conducted on neonates with respiratory distress in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of KLE’s Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital. (Respiratory distress in the neonate is diagnosed when one or more of the following is present; tachypnoea or respiratory rate of more than 60/ minute, retractions or increased chest in drawings on respirations (subcostal, intercostal, sternal, suprasternal) and noisy respiration in the form of a grunt, stridor or wheeze).  Neonates admitted in the NICU with any cardiac diseases and other non-pulmonary diseases and neonates with congenital anomalies such as congenital heart diseases, Congenital Diaphragmatic hernia, Tracheoesophageal Fistula, and Esophageal Atresia were excluded from the study. Institutional Ethical Clearance from the Institutional Ethics Committee for Human Subjects Research of Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Belagavi, Karnataka was obtained, and informed consent from the parents of all the study subjects. Results: Out of 51 neonates enrolled in the study, 23 neonates were diagnosed with respiratory distress syndrome, 11 neonates were diagnosed with transient tachypnea of the newborn, 5 neonates were diagnosed with meconium aspiration syndrome, 3 neonates were diagnosed with pneumonia and 2 neonates were diagnosed with pneumothorax. Lung ultrasound demonstrated a sensitivity of 92.7 % and specificity of 87.21 % as a diagnostic modality in our study. Conclusion: Lung ultrasonography serves as an alternative diagnostic imaging modality to chest radiographs in detecting neonatal pulmonary diseases.