Evaluation of Hypertrophic Pyloric Stenosis by Pediatric Emergency Physician Sonography

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate the accuracy of pediatric emergency physician (EP) sonography for infants with suspected hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (HPS). This was a prospective observational pilot study in an urban academic pediatric emergency department (PED). Patients were selected if the treating physician ordered an ultrasound (US) in the department of radiology for the evaluation of suspected HPS. Sixty-seven patients were enrolled from August 2009 through April 2012. When identifying the pylorus, pediatric EPs correctly identified all 10 positive cases, with a sensitivity of 100% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 62% to 100%) and specificity of 100% (95% CI = 92% to 100%). There was no statistical difference between the measurements obtained by pediatric EPs and radiology staff for pyloric muscle width or length (p = 0.5 and p = 0.79, respectively). Trained pediatric EPs can accurately assess the pylorus with US in the evaluation of HPS with good specificity.