Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
3250358 The Journal of Emergency Medicine 2009 4 Pages PDF
Abstract

Hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (HPS) is an acute abdominal emergency in infants that often presents to Emergency Departments. The clinical diagnosis of HPS relies on palpation of an olive-sized mass in the right upper quadrant of an infant with a history of projectile vomiting. However, studies have shown that clinicians cannot detect the olive in 11% to 51% of cases. Ultrasonography is the imaging modality of choice to diagnose HPS. HPS has a highly characteristic sonographic appearance that makes it readily identifiable on ultrasound. To our knowledge, there have been no reports documenting the ability of Emergency Physicians to diagnose HPS using point-of-care ultrasound. We present a multi-center case series (n = 8) of HPS diagnosed by Emergency Physician-performed ultrasound. We review the technique of incorporating point-of-care ultrasound into the physical examination of infants with suspected HPS and discuss the possible role of point-of-care ultrasound in the management of these patients.

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