title: Emergency ultrasonography of the gastrointestinal tract of children.
abstract: Ultrasonography (US) is widely used to evaluate most body parts in pediatric patients because it is simple, noninvasive, easy to use, and applicable in a wide variety of clinical situations. US is the modality of choice for the initial evaluation of acute abdominal pain in pediatric patients because of their small body habitus and the presence of less fat tissue in the abdominal wall and peritoneal cavity. The most important factor in performing pediatric emergency US is the graded compression technique and selection of the proper transducer. The careful evaluation of bowel wall thickening combined with ancillary findings such as fluid collection, increased echogenicity of the mesenteric fat tissue, enlarged lymph nodes, hyperemic bowel changes, and abnormal bowel peristalsis can increase the diagnostic capability of US.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, Yangsan, Korea.|Research Institute for Convergence of Biomedical Science and Technology, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, Yangsan, Korea.
authors.forename: Jae-Yeon
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2777-3444
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Hwang
keywords: Emergencies; Gastrointestinal diseases; Pediatrics; Radiology; Ultrasonography