MINI REVIEW article
Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Pediatric Pulmonology
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1630918
This article is part of the Research TopicUse of lung ultrasound in critical ill children with acute lung diseaseView all 3 articles
Lung Ultrasound in the Management of Mechanical Ventilation in Pediatric Critical Care: A Narrative Review
Provisionally accepted
Nailu Lealina Garrido Lopes1
Vivian Henriques Do Amaral2,3*Marina Simões Minozzi3Paola Guazzelli Pitta Madureira3,4Luisa Zagne Braz5
Rogerio da Hora Passos3- 1Clinical Data Center, Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital, São Paulo, Brazil
- 2Instituto do Cancer do Estado de São Paulo, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
- 3Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital, São Paulo, Brazil
- 4AC Camargo Cancer Center, São Paulo, Brazil
- 5Quality and Safety Department, Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital, São Paulo, Brazil
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Lung ultrasound (LUS) has become an increasingly valuable tool in the management of critically ill pediatric patients, offering dynamic, radiation-free bedside evaluation of pulmonary function. This narrative review synthesizes current evidence on the application of LUS in the context of ventilation in children and neonates. Key domains include its role in determining the indication for ventilation, guiding ventilatory adjustments, assessing positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) response, supporting lung recruitment maneuvers, and aiding in weaning and extubation decisions. The use of LUS in diagnosing ventilatorassociated pneumonia (VAP) is also addressed, highlighting characteristic sonographic findings and their limitations. The I-VENT mnemonic is proposed as a practical framework for clinicians to integrate LUS into ventilatory management.While further research is needed to standardize protocols and validate scoring systems, current evidence supports the routine use of LUS in pediatric intensive care as a safe, accessible, and informative tool for optimizing respiratory support.
Keywords: Respiration, Artificial, Pneumonia, Ventilator-Associated, Weaning, Ultrasonography, Diaphragm, Intensive Care Units, Pediatric, Positive-Pressure Respiration, Respiratory
Received: 18 May 2025; Accepted: 11 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Garrido Lopes, Henriques Do Amaral, Simões Minozzi, Guazzelli Pitta Madureira, Zagne Braz and da Hora Passos. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Vivian Henriques Do Amaral, Instituto do Cancer do Estado de São Paulo, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
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