[INTRODUCTION - The authors’ purpose was to analyse the role of abdominal ultrasonography (US) in the diagnosis of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). They have compared the sensitivity of the current standard diagnostic modalities for this clinical entity: plain abdominal radiography and abdominal US. For a more objective comparison, they created an US scale along with utilising the score system based on abdominal radiography which was published recently. PATIENTS AND METHODS - 46 out of 76 neonates having both clinical and radiological diagnosis of NEC had comparable radiographic and sonographic examinations between June 2006 and October 2009. The authors created a 10-grade US score system, in which sonographic signs of NEC are listed in order of severity, corresponding, where possible with the radiographic scale that was available. The findings were scored individually, then the distribution of scores and their relationship to each other were analysed. For further analysis four groups of severity based on the scores were created with the following categories: mild, moderate, severe and very severe. After graphical representation of the groups, the relationship of the groups created on the basis of scoring the findings by the two diagnostic methods were examined. RESULTS - According to this analysis both abdominal radiographs and sonographs are suitable for diagnosing NEC, which has been justified with statistical data. When analysing the severity groups the authors proved that the two methods diverge in judging groups 3 and 4, thus severe and very severe. The distributions of severity groups formed by the two imaging modalities are different, (P<0,01); and the proportion of group 3 and group 4 is different in case of US and radiographic examinations (P=0.003). CONCLUSIONS - Abdominal sonography and radiography are equally suitable diagnostic methods for diagnosing NEC, and the two methods match each other very well. In cases of mild state, the severity of the disease was found to be the same with both methods, but US allows more sensitive differentiation of serious cases. It is very sensitive in detecting perforations, so it could play a role in determining the indication of surgery.]
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