title: Emergency ultrasound in the evaluation of acute-onset abdominal pain in children.
abstract: The diagnostic efficacy of abdominal ultrasound obtained within 72 hours of admission in children with undiagnosed, acute-onset abdominal pain was studied. In our 54 patients, sonogram supported the clinical diagnosis in 22 patients (40.7%), established a previously unsuspected diagnosis in nine (16.6%), and was normal in 23/54 (42.6%). Twenty-one of the patients with a normal study recovered uneventfully. Two patients had a false negative study (sensitivity of 91%) and in three, the study was falsely positive (specificity 90.3%). Thus, our data suggest that emergency abdominal ultrasound may be of significant diagnostic value in the evaluation of children with acute-onset abdominal pain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, New York Medical College, Valhalla 10595.
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: See
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Glassman
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berezin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Inamdar
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Newman
mesh_terms: D000006:Abdomen, Acute / Q000175:diagnosis*; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques; D004630:Emergencies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010146:Pain / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010808:Physical Examination; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014463:Ultrasonography