The Role of Ultrasound in Intestinal Inflammatory Processes in Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Purpose: To disseminate the current knowledge about the intestinal inflammatory processes in children and its approach by ultrasound (US) and provide necessary information to pediatricians for early diagnosis through this complementary method. Source of Data: The sources of data were selected by Medline, the international manuscripts, international medical journals more relevant in the last 20 years about Gray Scale and Color Doppler Ultrasound in the evaluation of inflammatory bowel disease in children and adolescents. Conclusions: Several authors have suggested that the ultrasound should be the first study in the diagnostic investigation process in suspected inflammatory bowel disease to determine the most affected region and monitor the therapy response. While colonoscopy still remains as the reference diagnostic method, the literature suggests that US can be an extremely useful tool in the context of the suspected diagnosis of a wide variety of intestinal inflammatory processes in children.