Ultrasound in newborns and children suffering from non-traumatic acute abdominal pain: imaging with clinical and surgical correlation.

The purpose of this article is to review ultrasonographic appearance of the most common causes of non-traumatic acute abdominal pain in pediatric patients and to understand the applications and limitations of this technique giving a practical approach showing different clinical cases. A pictorial review of cases was made presenting the most common causes of neonatal and pediatric non-traumatic acute abdominal pain; sonographic features are discussed. Ultrasound in conjunction with Color Doppler imaging is a valuable tool in the evaluation of neonatal and pediatric non-traumatic acute abdominal pain; causes of acute abdomen in children could vary depending on the ages of the children.

Fetal intra-abdominal cysts: accuracy and predictive value of prenatal ultrasound.

Objective: The finding of a fetal intra-abdominal cyst is relatively common and it can be due to a wide variety of clinical conditions. The aims of this study were to determine the accuracy of the prenatal ultrasound (US) in identifying the etiology of fetal intra-abdominal cysts and to describe the neonatal outcomes.

Methods: All cases of fetal intra-abdominal cystic lesion referred to our center between 2004 and 2012 were reviewed.

First-line sonographic diagnosis of pneumothorax in major trauma: accuracy of e-FAST and comparison with multidetector computed tomography.

Purpose: Combined clinical examination and supine chest radiography have shown low accuracy in the assessment of pneumothorax in unstable patients with major chest trauma during the primary survey in the emergency room. The aim of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of extended-focused assessment with sonography in trauma (e-FAST), in the diagnosis of pneumothorax, compared with the results of multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) and of invasive interventions (thoracostomy tube placement).

Materials And Methods: This was a retrospective case series involving 368 consecutive unstable adult patients (273 men and 95 women; average age, 25 years; range, 16-68 years) admitted to our hospital's emergency department between January 2011 and December 2012 for major trauma (Injury Severity Score ≥ 15).

Diagnosis of deep infiltrating endometriosis: accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging and transvaginal 3D ultrasonography.

Purpose: To compare two different imaging modalities, magnetic resonance (MR), and three-dimensional sonography (3DUS), in order to evaluate the specific role in preoperative work-up of deep infiltrating endometriosis.

Materials And Methods: 33 women with endometriosis underwent 3DUS and MR followed by surgical and histopathological investigations. Investigators described the disease extension in the following sites: torus uterinus and uterosacral ligaments (USL), vagina, rectovaginal-septum, rectosigmoid, bladder, ovaries.