title: Clinical and echocardiographic determinants of ultrasound lung comets.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ultrasound lung comets (ULCs) are an echographic sign of extravascular lung water, that originate from water-thickened interlobular septa.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To establish the echocardiographic correlates of ULCs.
  
  
  METHODS
  340 in-hospital patients (68 +/- 12years, 115 females) admitted to adult cardiology department underwent upon admission a separate evaluation of chest ULCs and a comprehensive 2D and Doppler echocardiography assessment, including the degree of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (from 0 = normal to 3 = restrictive pattern). A patient ULC score has been obtained by summing the number of ULCs from each of the scanning spaces in the anterior right and left chest, from second to fifth intercostal space.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Multivariate linear regression analysis identified New York Heart Association (NYHA) class (OR = 2.1, CI = 1.4-2.9), ejection fraction (OR 0.954, CI = 0.928-0.981) and degree of diastolic dysfunction (OR = 2.438, CI = 1.418-4.190) as the only parameters independently associated to the number of ULCs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ULCs are a simple echographic sign of extravascular lung water, more frequently associated with left ventricular diastolic and/or systolic dysfunction. ULCs can usefully integrate the clinical and pathophysiological information provided by conventional 2D and Doppler echocardiography, in patients with known or suspected heart failure and dyspnoea as a presenting symptom.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Physiology, Via Moruzzi 1, Pisa 56010, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Frassi
authors.forename: Luna
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gargani
authors.forename: Suzana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gligorova
authors.forename: Quirino
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ciampi
authors.forename: Gaetano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mottola
authors.forename: Eugenio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Picano
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D015633:Extravascular Lung Water / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male