ultrasound versus computed tomography scan findings in pediatric blunt abdominal traumas

Objective: we aimed to evaluate the performance of ultrasonography (us) versus computed tomography (ct) scan in detecting intra-abdominal injury among pediatric patients with blunt abdominal trauma. methods: pediatric patients aged<18, who were admitted to the emergency department (ed) due to abdominal trauma and underwent both us and ct scan were evaluated retrospectively. results: a total of 732 pediatric patients were included in this study. pathology was detected on us of 418 (57.1%) cases, whereas, intra-abdominal pathology was detected in ct scan of 359 (48.7%) cases. the sensitivity of us in detecting pathology (fluid and/or organ injury) was 95.3%, and its specificity was 79.6%. the sensitivity of us in detecting free fluid was 94.9%, and its specificity was 80.5%. in patients with unstable and stable hemodynamic, the sensitivities of us in detection of pathology (fluid and/or organ injury) were 97.6% and 91.6%, and its specificities were 74.3% and 80.9%, respectively. conclusions: in our study, the sensitivity of us in terms of detecting pathology in pediatrics with blunt abdominal trauma was high, whereas the specificity of us was low.