• Nir Friedman, Felicia Tseng, Ranko Savic, Mamadou Diallo, Kate Fathi, Lianne Mclean, and Mark O Tessaro.
• Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
• J Ultrasound Med. 2019 Nov 1; 38 (11): 2893-2900.

ObjectivesNeck masses are a common reason for presentations to the pediatric emergency department (PED). We sought to determine the agreement and time difference between point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) imaging by pediatric emergency physicians compared to radiology department imaging for children with neck masses in the PED.MethodsWe performed a retrospective study of patients aged 0 to 18 years presenting to our tertiary PED who received both POCUS by a pediatric emergency physician and radiology department imaging. Charts were reviewed for POCUS diagnoses, final diagnoses, and imaging time metrics.ResultsSeventy-five patients met the study criteria. In 58 of 75 cases there was agreement between the POCUS diagnosis and final diagnosis (κ = 0.71; 95% confidence interval, 0.6-0.83). There was agreement in 25 of the 28 cases in which POCUS examinations were performed by PED physicians with fellowship training in POCUS (κ = 0.87; 95% confidence interval, 0.72-1.00). The results for POCUS were generated in a median of 115 minutes (interquartile range, 68-185 minutes) before radiology department imaging results.ConclusionsPoint-of-care ultrasound imaging by pediatric emergency physicians for children with neck masses is a promising new POCUS application that may be able to save time in the PED.© 2019 by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.

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