Reliability of Neck Mass Point-of-Care Ultrasound by Pediatric Emergency Physicians.
OBJECTIVES
Neck masses are a common reason for presentations to the pediatric emergency department (PED). We sought to determine the agreement and time difference between point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) imaging by pediatric emergency physicians compared to radiology department imaging for children with neck masses in the PED.


METHODS
We performed a retrospective study of patients aged 0 to 18 years presenting to our tertiary PED who received both POCUS by a pediatric emergency physician and radiology department imaging. Charts were reviewed for POCUS diagnoses, final diagnoses, and imaging time metrics.


RESULTS
Seventy-five patients met the study criteria. In 58 of 75 cases there was agreement between the POCUS diagnosis and final diagnosis (κ = 0.71; 95% confidence interval, 0.6-0.83). There was agreement in 25 of the 28 cases in which POCUS examinations were performed by PED physicians with fellowship training in POCUS (κ = 0.87; 95% confidence interval, 0.72-1.00). The results for POCUS were generated in a median of 115 minutes (interquartile range, 68-185 minutes) before radiology department imaging results.


CONCLUSIONS
Point-of-care ultrasound imaging by pediatric emergency physicians for children with neck masses is a promising new POCUS application that may be able to save time in the PED.
['Friedman|Nir|N|', 'Tseng|Felicia|F|', 'Savic|Ranko|R|', 'Diallo|Mamadou|M|', 'Fathi|Kate|K|', 'Mclean|Lianne|L|', 'Tessaro|Mark O|MO|https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0057-2271']
D000293:Adolescent D002648:Child D002675:Child, Preschool D015331:Cohort Studies D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital D005260:Female D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms D006801:Humans D007223:Infant D008198:Lymph Nodes D000072281:Lymphadenopathy D008297:Male D009333:Neck D010372:Pediatrics D010820:Physicians D019095:Point-of-Care Systems D015203:Reproducibility of Results D012189:Retrospective Studies D012466:Salivary Gland Diseases D012469:Salivary Glands D014463:Ultrasonography
neck mass point-of-care ultrasound pediatric emergency medicine