Point-of-care ultrasonography to predict fluid responsiveness in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) is proposed as a valuable method for hemodynamic monitoring and several ultrasound-based predictors of fluid responsiveness have been studied. The main objective of this study was to assess the accuracy of these predictors in children.

Methods: PubMed, Embase, Scopus, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Cochrane Library databases were searched for relevant publications through July 2022. Pediatric studies reporting accuracy estimates of ultrasonographic predictors of fluid responsiveness were included since they had used a standard definition of fluid responsiveness and had performed an adequate fluid challenge.

Results: Twenty-three studies involving 1028 fluid boluses were included, and 12 predictors were identified. A positive response to fluid infusion was observed in 59.7% of cases. The vast majority of participants were mechanically ventilated (93.4%). The respiratory variation in aortic blood flow peak velocity (∆Vpeak) was the most studied predictor, followed by the respiratory variation in inferior vena cava diameter (∆IVC). The pooled sensitivity and specificity of ∆Vpeak were 0.84 (95% CI, 0.76-0.90) and 0.82 (95% CI, 0.75-0.87), respectively, and the area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve (AUSROC) was 0.89 (95% CI, 0.86-0.92). The ∆IVC presented a pooled sensitivity and specificity of 0.79 (95% CI, 0.62-0.90) and 0.70 (95% CI, 0.51-0.84), respectively, and an AUSROC of 0.81 (95% CI, 0.78-0.85). Significant heterogeneity in accuracy estimates across studies was observed.

Conclusions: POCUS has the potential to accurately predict fluid responsiveness in children. However, only ∆Vpeak was found to be a reliable predictor. There is a lack of evidence supporting the use of POCUS to guide fluid therapy in spontaneously breathing children.