Point of Care Ultrasound in Detection of Brain Hemorrhage and Skull Fracture Following Pediatric Head Trauma; a Diagnostic Accuracy Study

Head trauma is a common reason for emergency department visits worldwide; many of which involve young children. We sought to determine if head ultrasound (US), as a portable, fast and safe modality, can guide diagnosis and treatment of children in emergency settings.

In this cross-sectional study, brain computed tomography (CT) scan and emergency head US were performed on head trauma children who were referred to the emergency departments of Firouzgar and Besat Hospitals, Tehran, Iran, from September 2018 to May 2019. The findings of the two modalities were separately evaluated, and used to estimate the diagnostic accuracy of US.

538 patients with the mean age of 5.6 § 4.9 (0-18) years were studied (54.8% male). Sensitivity and specificity of bedside US in detection of hemorrhage were 85.71% (42.13%-99.64%) and 97.99% (94.23%-99.58%) for children below the age of 2. These measures were 80.00% (51.91%-95.67%) and 97.97% (94.88%-99.44%), respectively, for those between 2 and 6 years old and 46.67% (21.27%-73.41%) and 92.90% (87.66%-96.40%), respectively, for those above the age of 6. Sensitivity and specificity were 92.31% (84.01%- 97.12%) and 95.87% (93.62%-97.50%), respectively, in diagnosing skull fractures. Cohen’s kappa coefficient varied greatly for different findings, ranging from0.363 to 0.825, indicating different agreement rates for each.

Based on our findings, emergency US can play a greater role in the initial management of head trauma children, especially as a triage test.