Ultrasound in the diagnosis of pneumonia in children

This is an automatically translated article.

The article is expertly consulted by Master, Resident, Specialist I Trinh Le Hong Minh - Radiologist - Radiology Department - Vinmec Central Park International General Hospital.

1. What is a lung ultrasound?

Lung ultrasound is an imaging method that uses ultrasound waves to observe and reconstruct the structure of the lungs. The ultrasound probe will be placed in certain positions corresponding to the position of the lungs to record the images obtained on the display screen. Thereby, the doctors will determine the lung condition, diagnose lung diseases such as: pneumonia, air in the lung parenchyma, lung coagulation, pneumothorax ...
Lung ultrasound plays a role very important in the diagnosis and treatment of pneumonia in particular and diseases of the lungs, as well as the respiratory tract in general. Currently, lung ultrasound has gradually replaced chest X-ray, becoming a reliable, safe and effective lung test method.

2. When to perform pulmonary ultrasound in children?

Pneumonia is a fairly common disease in children. It is also one of the leading causes of death in young children. When children have problems related to the respiratory tract, lungs, more specifically, symptoms of pneumonia appear, they will be assigned a lung ultrasound.

Cough is one of the most characteristic manifestations of pneumonia. To distinguish it from a common cough, a cough caused by pneumonia will be prolonged, persistent, more intense, and can be a cough with phlegm or a dry cough.
Symptoms of pneumonia in children include:
Severe cough, continuous cough, intestinal tightness Wheezing, shortness of breath, shortness of breath Difficulty breathing Coughing up blood Coughing with cloudy, green, yellow-gray sputum Neck Throat and chest pain when coughing Slight fever Headache Sweating, chills Pale, pale skin Fatigue, loss of appetite, bitter mouth If the child shows the above symptoms, the doctor will order a lung ultrasound to accurately diagnose whether the child has pneumonia or not. From the ultrasound results, the appropriate treatment method will also be given.

3. The role of ultrasound in the diagnosis of pneumonia in children

Lung ultrasound is a safe method and gives high accuracy results. Lung ultrasound allows to reconstruct the lung structure, thereby determining whether the child has pneumonia or not, the degree of pneumonia is severe or mild.
When there is a confirmed diagnosis of pneumonia, from the ultrasound image, it is possible to see whether the child's lungs have pulmonary consolidation or scattered solidifications. It is a manifestation of lobar pneumonia or diffuse pneumonia. Many children with pneumonia do not have obvious symptoms, children do not cough but have symptoms of abdominal pain and fever. Ultrasound examination of the abdomen can detect consolidation images of the bottom of the lungs, helping to accurately identify the child's condition.

Lung ultrasound also supports the treatment of pneumonia, monitors the progress of the disease, detects complications of pneumonia, especially lung necrosis, pleural effusion...
In addition, ultrasound Lungs are also used as a supportive technique. For example, pleural effusion under ultrasound guidance, lung biopsy under ultrasound guidance...

4. Advantages of ultrasound in diagnosing pneumonia compared to other tests

Compared with other tests to determine pneumonia such as X-ray, CT scan, MRI scan, lung ultrasound has many outstanding advantages such as:
High accuracy, clear images. patients, do not use radiation, do not adversely affect the patient's health. The ultrasound may be repeated many times. Fast ultrasound procedure Low cost of ultrasound Can be done with all subjects, including newborns Painless Before taking a job at Vinmec Central Park International General Hospital, the position of Doctor Since February 2018, Doctor Trinh Le Hong Minh used to work as a resident doctor of the imaging department at hospitals: Cho Ray, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Oncology, Gia Dinh People's Department, Trung Vuong...from 2012-2015. Officially worked at Cho Ray Hospital from 2015-2016, City International Hospital from 2016-2018.

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