Application of lung ultrasound in monitoring bronchopulmonary dysplasia and pulmonary arterial pressure in preterm infants

- OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the application value of lung ultrasound in monitoring bronchopulmona-ry dysplasia (BPD) and pulmonary artery pres-sure in premature infants. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 98 preterm infants diagnosed with BPD in the Fourth Hospital in Shijiazhuang were recruited, and their disease severity was classified as mild (n=32), moderate (n=33), or severe BPD (n=33) based on gestational age and oxygen concen-tration. Lung ultrasonography of the children was performed. The correlation between lung ventilation scores and disease severity was sta-tistically analyzed, and the discrete optimization results were documented. The pulmonary hy-pertension indexes of the three groups of chil-dren were compared. RESULTS: Aberrant alterations of the pleural line were observed in all included children, and the B-line rose as the disease progressed. The duration of invasive ventilation, medication, and hospital stay increased with disease exacerba-tion (p<0.05). The three groups significantly dif-fered in terms of ultrasound pulmonary ventila-tion scores and clinical severity (p<0.05). Only mild BDP was identified by lung ultrasound on the first day of birth (T1), and severe BDP was detectable during the first and second week (T2-T3) as well as the third and fourth week (T4-T5). Severe BPD was associated with signifi-cantly higher levels of pulmonary hypertension indices vs. mild and moderate BPD (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Pulmonary ultrasonography demonstrates great potential to predict pulmo-nary hypertension in children and assesses the disease severity. Pulmonary ultrasound allows for dynamical real-time observation of the pul-monary lesions in children with pulmonary hy-pertension, thereby revealing the severity of pul-monary hypertension in premature children.