CRP and Thoracic Emergency Ultrasound in Pneumonia

This preliminary study investigates in patients with possible clinical diagnosis of pneumonia, clues and biomarker assessed at Emergency Department (ED) triage, potentially predicting detection of lung consolidation by Thoracic-ultrasound (TUS) and/or by Chest-X-Rays. Cough and high admission CRP levels will be defined according to the cutoff defined by ROC analysis, will be challenged if independently associated with TUS lung consolidation detection High level of the chosen biomarker, and any of the considered symptoms, in otherwise not extremely critical patients (CURB65≤3), should prompt to immediate confirm by TUS, during the physical examination. This may limit the need of further radiological investigations allowing targeted workup.