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Pediatric ultrasonography of the pancreas: normal and abnormal findings

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Abstract

The pancreas is easily investigated in children thanks to the relative lack of fat tissue and the large left hepatic lobe with an optimal acoustic window. The use of high frequency, even linear transducers, usually results in detailed images of all pancreatic areas. A wide spectrum of pancreatic pathologic conditions can be identified and monitored at ultrasound although they are relatively uncommon during childhood compared to the adult. In this paper we briefly review the anatomy, technique, and sonographic aspects of normal and pathological pediatric pancreas.

Sommario

Lo studio ecografico del pancreas in età pediatrica è molto performante grazie alla scarsa presenza di tessuto adiposo sottocutaneo e all’ipertrofia della piccola ala epatica che fornisce una ottimale finestra acustica. L’utilizzo di sonde ad alta frequenza, spesso con il ricorso a trasduttori lineari, consente di ottenere un buon dettaglio anatomico di tutta la regione pancreatica. Diverse sono le patologie che interessano il pancreas in questa fascia di età e che possono essere identificate e monitorizzate con l’indagine ecografica sebbene siano relativamente poco comuni rispetto all’adulto. In questo articolo descriviamo l’anatomia, la tecnica di indagine e gli aspetti ecografici normali e patologici della ghiandola pancreatica in età pediatrica.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Radiology Department, “Antonio Cardarelli” Hospital, Naples, Italy

    Marco Di Serafino

  2. Radiology Department, “San Bortolo” Hospital, AULSS8 Berica, Vicenza, Italy

    Valerio Vitale

  3. Radiology Department, “San Carlo” Regional Hospital, Potenza, Italy

    Rosa Severino

  4. Radiology Department, “Umberto I” Hospital, Nocera Inferiore, Salerno, Italy

    Luigi Barbuto

  5. Radiology Department, Regional Hospital of Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy

    Norberto Vezzali & Federica Ferro

  6. Radiology Department, “Santobono-Pausilipon” Children Hospital, Naples, Italy

    Eugenio Rossi

  7. Paediatric Radiology Department, “Federico II” University Hospital, Naples, Italy

    Maria Grazia Caprio & Gianfranco Vallone

  8. Paediatric Department, “Federico II” University Hospital, Naples, Italy

    Valeria Raia

Authors
  1. Marco Di Serafino
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  2. Valerio Vitale
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  3. Rosa Severino
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  10. Gianfranco Vallone
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Correspondence to Marco Di Serafino.

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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 consented was obtained from all patients for which identifying information is not included in this article.

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

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Di Serafino, M., Vitale, V., Severino, R. et al. Pediatric ultrasonography of the pancreas: normal and abnormal findings. J Ultrasound 22, 261–272 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40477-018-0348-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40477-018-0348-8

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