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Commentary

Lung ultrasound for the diagnosis of childhood pneumonia: a safe and accurate imaging mode

, &
Pages 1817-1818 | Published online: 09 Dec 2015
 

Abstract

Pneumonia is the most common infectious cause of mortality in children worldwide. Chest x-ray (CXR) has been used as a supplementary mode in the diagnosis of pneumonia in children, but its frequent use might expose children to unnecessary ionizing radiation. In this review, we present up-to-date data of an alternative mode of imaging other than CXR in the diagnosis of pneumonia in children. We found that lung ultrasound is a safe and accurate mode of imaging that can be used by a health care provider in the cases of suspected pneumonia. It is more sensitive than CXR in the diagnosis of pneumonia and obviates the need for irradiation.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.