[Sonographic diagnosis of hypertrophic pyloric stenosis in childhood]

In most cases, diagnosis of hypertrophic pyloric stenosis is now based on real-time ultrasound examination. We employed the criteria stated in literature for sonographic diagnosis of hypertrophic pyloric stenosis, to evaluate our results. We studied 15 patients with symptoms of hypertrophic pyloric stenosis via real-time ultrasound, as well as 15 healthy infants. 10 patients were boys and 5 were girls, between 19 and 83 days of age (average age 45 days). 15 healthy infants of the same age were studied (average age 41 days) for comparison. In the healthy group, the average transverse pyloric diameter was 1.0 cm (0.6-1.5 cm); the mean wall thickness was 0.24 cm (0.2-0.3 cm) and mean pyloric length was 1.29 cm (1.0-1.6 cm). Analysis of the results in hypertrophic condition showed that the mean transverse pyloric diameter was 1.6 cm (1.2-1.9 cm). The wall thickness ranged from 0.4 to 0.8 cm with an average of 0.56 cm. The muscle length ranged from 1.7 to 2.5 cm with an average of 2.1 cm. On comparing the data of both groups we found significant differences in wall thickness and length. There was no false negative scan. Sonographic diagnosis was confirmed in all cases by surgical intervention. Our results agree with those obtained by other authors.