A comparative evaluation of diagnosis of thoracic ultrasonography and chest x-ray in children with lower respiratory tract infection who apply to the children emergency service

Objective: Chest X-Ray is accepted as the diagnostic method in children with lower respiratory tract infection and it is frequently used. This situation causes ionizing radiation exposure, increased costs, and loss of time in children. It was aimed to compare the efficiency of lung radiography with ultrasonographic evaluation of lungs in patients admitted to the pediatric emergency department with lower respiratory tract infection. We aim to diagnose in a shorter time, with less cost, portable, repeatable and a radiation-free method with bedside USG application by a pediatrician in the pediatric emergency department. Material and Method: In the study designed as a methodological research; Thorax USG was performed by a pediatric research assistant who received six hours ultrasonography training to 50 patients aged 0-18 who were evaluated with a pre-diagnosis of lower respiratory tract infection on admission to the Pediatric Emergency Department of Manisa Celal Bayar University Hospital between 01.10.2020 and 01.04.2021. Chest radiography was taken after thorax USG. The results were recorded in the prepared study forms. The statistical analysis of the study was performed by entering the data obtained into the SPSS program. Results: The average age of 50 cases included in this study was 5 years and 3 months, of the cases 27 (54%) were male and 23 (46%) were female. The diagnosis compliance relationship between ultrasonography and radiography of the cases was evaluated by cross tabulation and Mc-Nemar Bowker Chi-Square test, and a statistically significant relationship was found. There was a strong consistency and correlation between sonographic and radiological findings. Conclusion: Our study has shown that thoracic ultrasonography can be used instead of chest radiography in the diagnosis and radiological follow-up of pediatric cases with lower respiratory tract infection.