Hom J, Lam SHF, Delaney KM, Koos JA, Kunkov S. Vomiting, Pyloric Mass, and Point-of-Care Ultrasound: Diagnostic Test Accuracy for Hypertrophic Pyloric Stenosis-A Meta-Analysis.
J Emerg Med 2023;
65:e427-e431. [PMID:
37722950 DOI:
10.1016/j.jemermed.2023.06.001]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2022] [Revised: 03/01/2023] [Accepted: 06/13/2023] [Indexed: 09/20/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Hypertrophic pyloric stenosis is a common cause of nonbilious vomiting in infants younger than 6 months. Its history, physical examination, and point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) have not been compared for their diagnostic test accuracy.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this systematic review was to quantify and compare the diagnostic test accuracy of a history of vomiting, a pyloric mass on palpation, and POCUS.
METHODS
We performed three searches of the literature from 1977 to March 2022. We evaluated bias using the QUADAS-2 (Quality Assessment Tool for Diagnostic Accuracy-2) tool. We performed a bivariate analysis.
RESULTS
From 5369 citations, we identified 14 studies meeting our inclusion criteria. We quantified three diagnostic elements: POCUS, a pyloric mass on palpation, and vomiting. We identified five studies that analyzed POCUS, which included 329 patients. POCUS had a sensitivity of 97.7% (95% confidence interval (CI) 93.1-99.3%) and a specificity of 94.1% (95% CI 88.7-97.1%) for detecting pyloric stenosis. We identified six studies that analyzed the presence of a pyloric mass, which included 628 patients. The palpation of a pyloric mass had a sensitivity of 73.5% (95% CI 62.6-82.1%) and a specificity of 97.5% (95% CI 93.8-99.0%). We identified four studies that analyzed vomiting, which included 355 patients. Vomiting had a sensitivity of 91.3% (95% CI 82.1-96.0) and a specificity of 60.8% (95% CI 8.5-96.3). Both POCUS and palpation of a pyloric mass had a high positive likelihood ratio (LR+: 17 and 33, respectively). The LR+ for vomiting was 5.0.
CONCLUSIONS
Both POCUS and palpable mass had high specificity and positive LR, whereas vomiting provided the lowest diagnostic test measures.
Collapse