Table 1 TUS procedures

 • Pulmonary thoracic assessment setting (including: tissue harmonics imaging activation,the time gain compensation (TGC) should not exceed 50%, electronic imaging focus on the pleural line) using mainly a 3.5-5 MHz convex probe EsaoteTechnosMpx, My Lab 30 and Twice (Genova, Italy).

 • Patients’ chests were examined posteriorly, lateral and anteriorly, while sitting. A few patients were examined in a semi-supine position, due to severe discomfort when sitting upright. Posteriorly, we opted for longitudinal and transversal interscapular and paravertebral line scans. Anteriorly, the longitudinal and transversal interclavicular, parasternal line and supraclavicular scans were used.Laterally, we used the longitudinal and transversal anterior, median and posterior line axillary views.

 • The duration of ultrasound probe application in each site (posterior, lateral and anterior) was 4–5 min and overall time needed to complete the entire lung examination was 12–15 min.