The use of abdominal ultrasound as a screening method in the neonatal and infant period – is it useful?

Introduction: Over the last few years abdominal ultrasound has become a very useful and accessible method for exploring the pediatric gastrointestinal pathology. Study objective: Assessing the need to perform an abdominal ultrasound in the neonate and infant, as a screening procedure, in order to find evidence of malformative or tumoral pathology. Methods: Abdominal ultrasounds were performed on 769 patients hospitalized in our clinic during July 2013 – March 2015. The patients were aged between 0 – 1 years, with an average of 3 ± 2.5 months. Of these, 450 patients (58.51%) received a routine abdominal ultrasoun…