Objectives
Neck masses are a common reason for presentations to the pediatric emergency department (PED). We sought to determine the agreement and time difference between point‐of‐care ultrasound (POCUS) imaging by pediatric emergency physicians compared to radiology department imaging for children with neck masses in the PED.
Methods
We performed a retrospective study of patients aged 0 to 18 years presenting to our tertiary PED who received both POCUS by a pediatric emergency physician and radiology department imaging. Charts were reviewed for POCUS diagnoses, final diagnoses, and imaging time metrics.
Results
Seventy‐five patients met the study criteria. In 58 of 75 cases there was agreement between the POCUS diagnosis and final diagnosis (κ = 0.71; 95% confidence interval, 0.6–0.83). There was agreement in 25 of the 28 cases in which POCUS examinations were performed by PED physicians with fellowship training in POCUS (κ = 0.87; 95% confidence interval, 0.72–1.00). The results for POCUS were generated in a median of 115 minutes (interquartile range, 68–185 minutes) before radiology department imaging results.
Conclusions
Point‐of‐care ultrasound imaging by pediatric emergency physicians for children with neck masses is a promising new POCUS application that may be able to save time in the PED.
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