Role of lung ultrasound score in early prediction of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in preterm neonates

Abstract

Background

The use of lung ultrasound score (LUS) to predict bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is still evolving. While LUS is widely available and accurate, there is limited evidence from low- and middle-income countries. We aim to assess LUS’s predictive ability for BPD in preterm neonates less than 30 weeks gestation.

Material and methods

We enrolled 160 neonates born at <30 weeks of gestation, who required any form of respiratory support at least for 24 h. Six zone LUS was calculated for all the neonates first within 72 h and then weekly till 36 weeks of post-menstrual age (PMA) or discharge, whichever was earlier. After excluding death and missed scans, 112 neonates were categorized as BPD or non-BPD and were analysed for their LUS.

Result

Neonates who developed BPD (n = 33) had higher LUS from the first assessment up to nine weeks. An LUS >5 could predict the development of BPD at one week with a sensitivity of 87.88%, specificity 89.87%, and area under ROC Curve (AUC) 0.93, and at two weeks with a sensitivity of 78.79%, specificity of 96.2%, and AUC 0.95. Likewise, at three and four weeks of life, the optimum cutoff of LUS >3 and >2, respectively, predicted the development of BPD with sensitivity 93.99%, specificity 94.94%, and AUC 0.97 at three weeks and sensitivity 87.88%, specificity 92.41 %, and AUC 91.07% at four weeks. Prediction for moderate-severe BPD was also reliable at all scan time points with AUC 0.84 at 1–3 days, 0.91 at one week, 0.92 at two weeks, 0.95 at three weeks, and 0.97 at four weeks, with LUS cutoff >8, >5, >6, >4, and >3, respectively.

Conclusion

LUS can reliably predict the future development of BPD as early as one week of life and can play an important role in optimizing BPD preventive strategies.