Ultrasonography: Applications in Pediatric Abdomen

Mistakes in the ultrasound diagnostics of the abdominal cavity in pediatrics

The diagnostics of the abdominal cavity in children, especially in the neonatal-infantile period, requires knowledge in the field of anatomical and physiopathological differences as well as clinical symptomatology and pathology at every stage of the child’s development. Errors and mistakes in ultrasound diagnostics of the abdominal cavity in children result from many factors, including lack of experience in examining children and the knowledge concerning most frequent ailments and pathologies as well as the incidence or no changes in the ultrasound image of the abdominal cavity organs. The assessment of the ultrasound image should be always based on clinical data of the patient, information on the past diseases, surgeries and the results of additional examinations and laboratory tests. Particular attention should be paid to the occurrence of congenital diseases and inflammations, which may have varied clinical manifestation – especially in the case of pediatric diagnostics. The variety and non-specific nature of clinical symptoms may also mask the developing neoplastic process. Mistakes in ultrasound diagnostics, especially among the youngest children, may also be caused by technical difficulties related to carrying out the examination. The above situation results from lack of cooperation with the child, who is uneasy, wailing, fails to perform orders, which may lead to overlooking the existing lesion or overinterpreting, e.g. a full stomach or residual stool in the intestines to be a pathology. It is also of high importance to have a good class of the ultrasound equipment and technical knowledge concerning its operation. When performing an ultrasound examination in children, it is necessary to apply a wide range of phased-array, convex and linear heads and appropriate applications, the so-called pediatric software (stomach, kidneys, true pelvis, organs at the surface).

Validity of ultrasonographic measurement of gastric volume in fasted pediatric patients without sedation

Recently, gastric ultrasonography has been used as a noninvasive portable tool for evaluating gastric content and volume in adults and children. Pediatric patients are not always cooperative, especially younger ones, and it may be difficult to keep them in the appropriate scanning position without sedation. Hence, we modified the scanning method and position, and evaluated the efficacy of this alternative scanning technique in pediatric cases. We evaluated the gastric contents of 44 pediatric patients aged 4-14 years who were about to undergo elective surgery. Solid food and fluids were prohibited 8 and 2 h before anesthesia, respectively. Before anesthetic induction, we used gastric ultrasonography to measure the antral cross-sectional area in the supine position (supine CSA), irrespective of peristaltic contractions. The gastric volume was then aspirated using a multi-orifice catheter under general anesthesia. Supine CSA measured via this gastric ultrasonography method was positively correlated with gastric volume (r = 0.56, p < 0.0001). We concluded that our alternative method of measuring antral CSA may be applicable for children minimal gastric contents.