The uses of ecography in Pediatric Primay Care; interconnection with hospital care

Introduction: The use of ultrasound in pediatric Primary Care improves both the quality and efficiency of care.

Material and methods: This study undertook 250 ultrasounds over a 12 month period from May 2009 to April 2010.

Results: The results found for each anatomical region were 45% abdominal, 25% cranial, 15% of the hip, 10% of parotid and thyroids and 5% of tender areas. From these, the most relevant pathology was Gastroesophageal Reflux, accounting for 7.2% of all ultrasounds undertaken. Renal pyelectasia accounted for 1.6%, cephalhematoma 1.6%, dysplasia of the hip 1.2%, acute parotitis 1.2%, adenopathy 1.2%, cervical angioma 0.4%, and abscessed adenopathy 0.4%.

Conclusions: From this analysis, we conclude that ultrasound is a useful tool for the detection of abdominal and cranial pathologies and secondarily, for thyroid, hip and cervical pathologies.