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The pediatric gastrointestinal tract: ultrasound findings in acute diseases

  • Francesco Esposito
  • Marco Di SerafinoEmail author
  • Carmela Mercogliano
  • Dolores Ferrara
  • Norberto Vezzali
  • Giovanni Di Nardo
  • Luigi Martemucci
  • Gianfranco Vallone
  • Massimo Zeccolini
Review Article
First Online:

Abstract

The study of the gastrointestinal tract by imaging, particularly using ultrasound, is a required instrument for diagnosis of acute and chronic gastrointestinal pathologies in pediatric age. Actually, ultrasound plays an increasing role in the evaluation of gastrointestinal tract in neonatal and pediatric patients because of their small body habitus and the presence of less fat tissue in the abdominal wall and peritoneal cavity. Ultrasound has certain advantages, thanks to the new wide-spectrum frequency probes able to assess a detailed study of the morphological aspects and functional characteristics of bowel loops, adding a new dimension to the imaging of this body system. In this paper, we review anatomy, ultrasound technique and sonographic findings of bowel pathology frequently encountered in neonatal and pediatric emergency setting.

Keywords

Ultrasonography Pediatrics Emergencies Gastrointestinal diseases 

Sommario

Lo studio ecografico dell’apparato gastrointestinale recentemente è diventato uno strumento indispensabile per la diagnosi di patologie gastrointestinali ad insorgenza acuta o con decorso cronico in età pediatrica. L’ecografia ha un ruolo crescente nello studio del tratto gastrointestinale e specie in ambito pediatrico e neonatale grazie al habitus dei piccoli pazienti ed alla scarsa presenza di adipe interposto. I trasduttori multi-frequenza di ultima generazione forniscono immagini dettagliate, di alta qualità, per lo studio morfologico e funzionale delle anse intestinali, configurando una nuova dimensione degli ultrasuoni nella diagnostica per immagini dell’apparato gastro-intestinale. In questo articolo descriviamo la tecnica di esame e gli aspetti ecografici caratteristici delle più comuni patologie ad insorgenza acuta del tratto gastrointestinale in epoca neonatale e pediatrica.

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Notes

Compliance with ethical standards

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, and its late amendments. Additional informed consent was obtained from all patients for which identifying information is not included in this article.

Human and animal rights

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Copyright information

© Società Italiana di Ultrasonologia in Medicina e Biologia (SIUMB) 2019

Authors and Affiliations

  • Francesco Esposito
    • 1
  • Marco Di Serafino
    • 2
    Email author
  • Carmela Mercogliano
    • 3
  • Dolores Ferrara
    • 4
  • Norberto Vezzali
    • 5
  • Giovanni Di Nardo
    • 2
  • Luigi Martemucci
    • 2
  • Gianfranco Vallone
    • 4
  • Massimo Zeccolini
    • 1
  1. 1.Radiology DepartmentSantobono-Pausilipon Children HospitalNaplesItaly
  2. 2.Emergency and General Radiology DepartmentAntonio Cardarelli HospitalNaplesItaly
  3. 3.Paediatric DepartmentSantobono-Pausilipon Children HospitalNaplesItaly
  4. 4.Paediatric Radiology DepartmentFederico II University HospitalNaplesItaly
  5. 5.Radiology DepartmentRegional Hospital of BolzanoBolzanoItaly

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