Usefulness of Ultrasonography for the Evaluation and Management of Lung Abscess in Pediatric Patients

Objectives

No systematic studies have compared lung abscess findings on computed tomography (CT) and ultrasonography.

We aimed to determine the value of ultrasound in managing lung abscesses.

Methods

Twenty-one pediatric patients with lung abscesses who underwent CT and ultrasonography were included in the study. They were classified into those with lung abscess detected and undetected by ultrasonography. In patients with detected lesions via ultrasound, the lesion sizes measured by CT and ultrasonography were compared using Pearson's correlation coefficients. Fisher's exact and Mann–Whitney U tests were used for comparing age and laterality and sizes of the lung abscesses between both groups.

Results

Of the 21 patients, 17 (81.0%) had lung abscess detected via ultrasonography. The volumes measured by CT and ultrasonography strongly positively correlated (r = .948, p < .001). The ages in the ultrasound-detected and undetected lung abscess groups were not significantly different (60.0 ± 52.2 months [range, 2.9–141.8] vs 51.0 ± 53.4 months [range, 1.4–100.1], respectively; P = .462). The laterality of lung abscesses did not differ significantly between both groups (right/left: 9/8 vs 2/2, respectively; P > .999). The lung abscess sizes in both groups significantly differed (detected vs. undetected; 22,922.5 ± 26,657.8 mm³ [range, 55.0–83599.4] vs. 1182.5 ± 1543.4 mm³ [range, 9.4–3349.3], P = .009).

Conclusions

The lung abscess sizes measured by ultrasonography and CT were comparable. In patients with lung abscesses detected by ultrasonography, the effectiveness of the initial treatment of lung abscesses could be evaluated based on lesion size by ultrasonography. This finding is useful for pediatric physicians and surgeons and infection control teams to manage these pediatric patients.