Over the past decade Point/of/Care Ultrasound (POC US) is increasingly performed in adult emergency medicine for a variety of indications. Pediatric emergency medicine has been much slower to embrace POC US. The authors report a case of a 15/year/old boy that presented to the pediatric emergency department with abdominal pain. A diagnosis of appendicitis was made using real/time POC US by a pediatric emergency medicine attending. Knowledge of the sonographic characteristics of appendicitis can help the physician in the prompt diagnosis of this condition, thereby reducing morbidity and mortality that may result from a delay in diagnosis.
Hawaii Medical Journal Copyright 2010.