Paediatric Ultrasound

What is an Ultrasound?

Ultrasound commonly refers to high frequency sound waves.

An ultrasound examination is a technique used by a trained healthcare professional to examine parts of the body or internal organs. 

During an ultrasound the sonographer (or a radiologist) uses a small ultrasound transducer, which emits high frequency sound waves, transmitted into the body. When these waves are returned by the various tissues of the body, the waves are converted to electrical signals which in turn are used to create an internal image of a specific area of the body. This image is transmitted to a monitor and can be captured and stored. Both still images and continuous moving images can be produced.

The sound waves used in this technique can neither be heard nor felt by the person undergoing the examination.

Ultrasound is commonly used by applying and moving the transducer (probe) externally 

over the skin. The transmission of the waves is facilitated by application of watery clear gel. 

It can also be performed as an internal scan (by inserting the probe into a body cavity) or endoscopic ultrasound (by inserting the producer into the body via a long, thin, endoscopic tube). The latter two approaches are less commonly used in paediatric patients.

Types of Paediatric Ultrasound

The common types of Paediatric Ultrasound performed are

1. Abdominal Ultrasound
2. Renal Ultrasound
3. Hip Ultrasound
4. Scrotal Ultrasound
5. Head Ultrasound
6. Thyroid Ultrasound
7. Musculoskeletal Ultrasound
8. Soft tissue Ultrasound
9. Doppler Vascular Ultrasound
10. Bowel Ultrasound

Abdominal ultrasound

What Is a Paediatric Abdominal Ultrasound?

A paediatric abdominal ultrasound is an examination of the abdominal organs with an ultrasound machine, which uses sound waves to form images of different organs within your child's abdomen. 

What Conditions Does Renal Ultrasound Evaluate?

Abdominal Ultrasound can help evaluate children with 

abdominal pain 

• vomiting
• abdominal mass
• abnormal blood tests

What Are the Common Conditions Detected by Abdominal Ultrasound?

Abdominal Ultrasound is used to detect conditions such as

Appendicitis, pyloric stenosis, stones, tumours, cysts, abscesses, fluid collections, inflammation and infections in the abdomen etc.

What are the benefits of Abdominal Ultrasound?

Abdominal Ultrasound gives the opportunity to examine the organs and structures within the abdomen without the potential side effects of radiation as with X-rays. Ultrasound is safe and can be performed in children without the need for sedation.

Renal Ultrasound

What Is a Paediatric Renal Ultrasound?

A paediatric renal ultrasound is an examination of the kidneys and urinary bladder with an ultrasound machine, which uses sound waves to form images of different organs within your child's body. 

The sound waves cannot be heard by the human ear and cannot be felt by the child having the ultrasound study.

What Conditions Does Renal Ultrasound Evaluate?

Renal Ultrasound can help evaluate children with suspected: 

• Urinary infection
• cystic kidney disease
• hydronephrosis
• chronic kidney disease
• renal artery occlusive disease

What Are Common Renal Ultrasound Uses?

Renal Ultrasound is used to:

assess the size, location, and shape of the kidneys and related structures, such as the ureters and bladder

detect cysts, tumours, abscesses, obstructions, fluid collection, and infection within or around the kidneys

Benefits of a Renal Ultrasound

Renal Ultrasound gives the opportunity to examine the kidneys without the potential side effects of radiation as with X-rays. Ultrasound is safe and can be performed in children without the need for sedation.

Hip Ultrasound

What Is a Paediatric Hip Ultrasound?

A paediatric hip ultrasound is an examination of a child's hip joints with an ultrasound machine, which uses sound waves to form images or pictures of the hip joint. These sound waves cannot be heard by the human ear and cannot be felt by the child having the ultrasound.

What Conditions Does Hip Ultrasound Evaluate?

Hip Ultrasound can help evaluate children with suspected abnormalities of the hip. In infants it is most commonly used to check for developmental dysplasia of the hip. 

Benefits of a Hip Ultrasound

Ultrasound, with no potentially harmful X-rays, is ideally suited to children. The ultrasound examination can be carried out without the child having to be sedated or held completely still. Ultrasound studies have no side effects.

A paediatric hip ultrasound can usually show the detail of the immature or abnormal hip joint very easily. Treatment of any abnormality can then be undertaken. Hip ultrasound for developmental dysplasia of the hip can be undertaken before six months of age.

Scrotal Ultrasound

What Is a Paediatric Scrotal Ultrasound?

Scrotal Ultrasound is the imaging modality of choice for the paediatric scrotum. It provides excellent anatomical detail and assessment of testicular structures without ionising radiation. 

Scrotal US examination may also include the inguinal area; inguinal canal pathology can extend into the scrotum.

What Conditions Does Scrotal Ultrasound Evaluate?

Scrotal Ultrasound helps to determine the causes for scrotal pain or swelling or lump

It is used to assess the size of the testicles, detect twisting of testes (torsion), detect the presence of fluid in scrotum (hydrocele), inflammation and infection of the testes and its adjacent structures (epididymo-orchitis), distended veins of the scrotum (varicocele). Doppler evaluation of the scrotum helps in assessing perfusion of the testes.

It could also be used to help diagnose trauma to the testicles and scrotal area, or to look for an undescended testicle.

Benefits of a Scrotal Ultrasound

Ultrasound imaging of the scrotum provides assessment of the testicles and the surrounding structures in a non-invasive manner and without the use of radiation. It is safe and painless. 

Head Ultrasound

What is head ultrasound?

Head (Cranial) Ultrasound is the examination of the brain, its internal structure and outer coverings by the use of sound waves transmitted through the head.

When is a head ultrasound done?

Head ultrasound is performed in young babies in whom the bones of the skull have not completely matured, providing a gap in the skull termed fontanel. The fontanel acts as a window to allow sound waves to be transmitted through to the brain and thereby capture images of the structures inside the skull.

Why is a head ultrasound done?

A head ultrasound may be ordered when the child exhibits neurological symptoms, or has a bulging fontanel or shows increasing head size.

Head ultrasounds help assess the structure of the brain tissue, ventricles (fluid filled cavities within brain), meninges (outer coverings of the brain tissue), sometimes blood supply to the brain I order to determine the cause for the symptoms

What are the conditions that can be evaluated with head ultrasound?

Some of the common conditions that a head ultrasound can help in evaluating are bleeding in the brain esp in premature babies (IVH), swelling of the ventricles (hydrocephalus), changes related to decreased oxygen and blood supply to brain (hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy), infection of the meninges (meningitis)

What are the benefits of head ultrasound?

Head ultrasound examination helps assessment of the brain structures in the young babies without the use of potentially harmful Xrays. The scan can be done without the need for sedation or fasting and can even be performed at bedside if in a hospital setting. It is safe and painless.

Musculoskeletal Ultrasound

What Is a Paediatric Musculoskeletal Ultrasound?

Paediatric Musculoskeletal Ultrasound is an examination of the joints and their associated soft tissues to diagnose abnormalities of the musculoskeletal system.

It is a sensitive, appropriate, and reliable tool for diagnosis, follow-up and treatment of several joint and soft tissue pathologies

What Conditions Does Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Evaluate?

Musculoskeletal ultrasound can help to diagnose a range of injuries and conditions, including: tendonitis, bursitis, synovitis, joint effusion, infections and masses such as tumours or cysts.

Benefits of a Musculoskeletal Ultrasound

Musculoskeletal ultrasound helps in assessment of joint and soft tissue abnormalities safely without the use of potentially harmful radiation as with Xray. It can be performed without the need for fasting or sedation. It is an easily available and accessible investigation for the diagnosis of joint and soft tissue conditions.

Soft Tissue Ultrasound

What Is a Paediatric Soft Tissue Ultrasound?

Soft tissue ultrasound commonly refers to non-invasive imaging exams that use high-frequency sound waves to assess lumps, bumps, or masses in soft tissues anywhere on the body.

What Conditions Does Soft Tissue Ultrasound Evaluate?

Soft Tissue Ultrasound can help in diagnosing a wide variety of conditions affecting the superficial and deep soft tissues of the body. Some of the examples include:

Haemangiomas, Vascular malformations, Lipoma, Dermoid, Fibroma, Neurogenic tumours, Sarcomas etc
Other indications include the evaluation of cysts and lymph nodes. Ultrasound is also used to locate foreign bodies.

Benefits of a Soft Tissue Ultrasound

Soft Tissue Ultrasound is generally painless and does not require sedation. It is easily

accessible and safer than diagnostic techniques such CT scans as it does not use radiation.

Bowel Ultrasound

What Is a Paediatric Bowel Ultrasound?

Paediatric Bowel Ultrasound is typically a targeted examination, designed to assess specific features of bowel segments.

What Conditions Does Bowel Ultrasound Evaluate?

Bowel Ultrasound is now common practice as a first-line and surveillance test for suspected bowel inflammation such as Crohn's disease, providing a sensitive, safe and inexpensive diagnostic tool.

What Are Common Bowel Ultrasound Uses?

Bowel Ultrasound is mostly utilised for the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with inflammatory bowel diseases, helping to avoid frequent use of invasive and expensive diagnostic procedures and leading to early implementation of suitable treatment.

Benefits of a Bowel Ultrasound

Bowel Ultrasound can help evaluate the degree of bowel involvement in inflammatory bowel disease and to monitor the response and progress to treatment, reducing the need for repeated examinations involving radiation (CT scan) or expensive tools such as MRI. Ultrasound is readily available, safe and inexpensive and can be repeated as often as may be needed. It requires special expertise and experience especially for its use in inflammatory bowel disease.

Thyroid Ultrasound

What Is a Paediatric Thyroid Ultrasound?

Paediatric Thyroid Ultrasound is used to evaluate a child's thyroid gland by using high frequency sound waves transmitted through the thyroid gland in the neck

What Conditions Does Thyroid Ultrasound Evaluate?

Thyroid Ultrasound can help evaluate suspected: 

• Congenital Hypothyroidism, 
• Thyroid dysfunction older children
• Goitres, 
• Nodules, cysts or Lumps in the thyroid
• Infectious or Autoimmune Diseases of the thryoid,
• Neoplasm (abnormal cell growth or tumours)

What Are Common Uses of Thyroid Ultrasound?

Thyroid Ultrasound is used to:

• Determine if a lump in the neck is arising from the thyroid,
• Analyse the appearance of thyroid nodules to determine if they are benign or whether a biopsy is required. 
• Monitor the size and appearance of a thyroid nodule over time. 
• Seek additional nodules where a physical exam has found one or more nodules,
• Ultrasound is used for guidance to perform fine-needle aspiration – this improves the biopsy’s accuracy

Benefits of a Thyroid Ultrasound

Ultrasound offers clearer details of the Thyroid gland not available with x-ray images, or CT scan. It is safe and non invasive with no harmful radiation, or side effects.

It can provide real-time imaging guidance useful for minimally invasive procedures such as needle biopsies and fluid aspiration.

Doppler Vascular Ultrasound

What Is a Doppler Vascular Ultrasound?

A Doppler Vascular Ultrasound is a test that uses high-frequency sound waves to measure the amount of blood flow through your arteries and veins, usually those that supply blood to your arms and legs. 

Vascular flow studies, also known as blood flow studies, can detect abnormal flow within an artery or blood vessel.

What Conditions Does Doppler Vascular Ultrasound Evaluate?

Doppler Ultrasound can help evaluate children with suspected: 

• blockages to blood flow (such as clots)
• narrowing of vessels
• tumours and congenital vascular malformations
• reduced or absent blood flow to various organs, such as the testes or ovary
• increased blood flow, which may be a sign of infection. 

Benefits of a Doppler Vascular Ultrasound

Doppler ultrasound helps evaluate abnormalities of blood vessels and blood flow without the use of radiation as with X Rays and CT scan. It is safe and painless and does not require sedation. Fasting may be required especially when evaluating blood flow to internal organs such as liver, kidneys, and intestines.