Usefulness of Ultrasonography in the Diagnosis of Peptic Ulcer Disease in Children

Purpose: This study was performed to assess the clinical usefulness of transabdominal ultrasonography (TUS) in detecting peptic ulcer disease (PUD) in children. Methods: Twenty-four patients (19 boys, 5 girls; mean age, 10.6 +/- 4.5 years [range, 3.0-17.9 years]) who were admitted to the hospital for acute abdomen or gastrointestinal bleeding and diagnosed with PUD by endoscopy and who underwent TUS were included. Clinical data were retrospectively collected by reviewing patient medical records. Gastric ulcer (GU) was suspected when the gastric wall exceeded 8 mm in thickness and had lost its five-layer structure on TUS. Duodenal ulcer (DU) was suspected if the duodenal wall thickness exceeded 5 mm. Results: Sensitivity of TUS in diagnosing PUD was 66.7% for GU and 38.9% for DU. Mean age and body weight of the 11 patients suspected with PUD on TUS were 10.9 +/- 4.4 years and 38.1 +/- 17.2 kg, respectively. For 13 patients without suspected PUD, they were 12.1 +/- 4.1 years and 39.6 +/- 17.0 kg, respectively. There was a significant difference in height, weight, and body mass index between patients who were suspected to have PUD and those who were not suspected on TUS (p=0.014, 0.008, and 0.005, respectively). A significant difference in the sensitivity of TUS in diagnosing PUD was found between patients under 30 kg and those over 30 kg (88.9% and 20.0%, respectively; p=0.003). Conclusion: TUS investigation of the stomach and duodenum is an efficient method for PUD detection in children with low body weight. TUS can be used in preliminary diagnostic work-up before further invasive tests.