Diagnostic Accuracy of Ultrasonography in Diagnosis of Intussusceptions in Pediatric Patients

Abstract

Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography in diagnosis of intussusceptions in pediatric patients at a tertiary care hospital.

Study Design: Cross sectional study

Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Department of Diagnostic Radiology The Children's Hospital & the Institute of Child Health, Lahore from July 2022 to December 2022.

Methods: One hundred and twenty five consecutive patients younger than 6 years old participated in this study. Patients with symptoms such as blood in the stool and abdominal pain were screened using ultrasound by a trained radiologist. Radiological and surgical outcomes were accurately assessed by regularly monitoring patients. Statistics and data were SPSS 22 was used for the analysis.

Results: The mean age of patients was 1.75 years, with a standard deviation of 2.11 years. In terms of gender, 63.3% were male, while 36.7% were female. Clinical presentation revealed that abdominal pain was the most common, affecting 53.3% of patients, followed by vomiting (34.4%), bloody stools (8.0%), and fever (4.8%). In the assessment of intussusception in pediatric patients, ultrasound demonstrated the following diagnostic performance as sensitivity (91.95%), specificity (78.95%), positive predictive value (90.91%), negative predictive value (81.08%), and accuracy (88.0%).

Conclusion: Ultrasound was found to be 91.95% sensitive, 78.95% specific and 88.0% accurate in diagnosing intussusception in children which owing to its non-invasive and radiation free nature and bedside availability advocate its preferred use in future practice.