Pediatric Lung Ultrasound (PLUS) in the diagnosis of Community-Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) requiring hospitalization

Background

In childhood pneumonia, pediatric lung ultrasound (PLUS) is a very sensitive and specific diagnostic alternative to chest X-ray (CXR). However, there is a paucity of literature on this in India. We set out to compare the diagnostic accuracy of PLUS and CXR in hospitalized children with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).

Setting and Design

Prospective, observational study (June 2017-September 2019) at a tertiary care hospital.

Methods

Hospitalized children of CAP (3 months-18 years) were included after taking informed, written consent. Hemodynamic instability, asthma, cystic fibrosis, congenital heart disease, immunodeficiency, and malignancy cases were excluded. CXR (frontal view) and PLUS were done within 6 h of each other and within 24 h of hospitalization. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software version 25.

Results

Out of 612 consecutive, hospitalized respiratory cases, 261 were recruited. CAP was diagnosed clinically in 148 (56.7%) patients [95 boys (64.19%), mean age in years ± SD: 4.31 ± 4.41]. Abnormal PLUS was present in 141 (95.27%) and abnormal CXR in 128 (86.48%) patients. In radiologically diagnosed pneumonia, PLUS was detected in 123 [123/128 (96.09%)] children, and when CXR was normal, PLUS was abnormal in 18 [18/20 (90%)]. PLUS showed a sensitivity of 95.27% (95%CI: 90.50-98.08) and a specificity of 92.90% (95%CI: 86.53-96.89). CXR showed a sensitivity of 86.49% (95%CI: 79.9-91.55) and a specificity of 90.27% (95%CI: 83.25-95.04).

Conclusions

PLUS is a sensitive, specific test and can be considered as the preferred investigation before CXR in children hospitalized with CAP.