Point-of-care ultrasound may be useful for detecting pediatric intussusception at an early stage

This study aimed to verify the usefulness of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) performed by pediatric emergency physicians for detecting intussusception at an early stage.

This retrospective study included 1-month- to 6-year-old children with clinically suspected intussusception, who underwent POCUS in the pediatric emergency department between December 2016 and February 2018. The criteria for performing POCUS were set to broader standards: presenting any one of intermittent abdominal pain/irritability or bloody stool, or ≥ 2 symptoms among nonspecific abdominal pain/irritability, abdominal mass/distension, vomiting, or lethargy. POCUS results were interpreted and categorized as "negative" or "suspicious," and a radiologist performed confirmatory ultrasound in "suspicious" cases.

We analyzed 575 POCUS scans from 549 patients (mean age, 25.5 months). Among the 92 "suspicious" cases (16.0%), 70 (12.2%) were confirmed to have intussusception. POCUS showed 100% sensitivity, 95.6% specificity, and 97.8% accuracy. Patients with confirmed intussusception were mainly diagnosed in the early stages, with a mean symptom duration of 11.7 h, and most patients (97.1%) were treated successfully via air enema reduction. Compared to the non-intussusception group, the intussusception group had more intermittent abdominal pain (P < 0.001), but less vomiting (P = 0.001); the other clinical features showed no intergroup differences.

POCUS performed using the criteria set to broader standards by pediatric emergency physicians may be useful for detecting intussusception at an early stage, which may present with obscure clinical symptoms.