Paediatric ultrasound. I. Abdominal.

Paediatric abdominal US differs partially from adult US. Not only different size and different approaches due to different physiological conditions demand a different handling and equipment, but different diseases and different patient handling characterise the specific challenges of paediatric abdominal US. The main goal of this paper is to familiarize the radiologist who occasionally has to deal with paediatric patients with the specifics and typical applications of US in neonates, infants and children. This review tries to point out the major differences between adult and paediatric scanning, starting from technical requirements and other general considerations and spanning to sophisticated adaptation of modern sonographic imaging techniques to specific paediatric queries. This article illustrates typical applications of the various sonographic approaches and lists some major disease conditions where the role of US has changed and shows how US now significantly contributes to diagnosis.