POCUS Assessment of Bladder Fullness for Girls Awaiting Radiology-Performed Transabdominal Pelvic Ultrasound

Abdominal Pain, Pelvic Pain

The purpose of this study is to assess the accuracy and utility of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) of the bladder compared to patient's sensation of bladder fullness in predicting the ability to successfully perform a comprehensive transabdominal pelvic ultrasound in the pediatric Emergency Department (ED). We hypothesize that POCUS can more accurately and more quickly determine adequate bladder fullness to successfully perform transabdominal pelvic ultrasound than patient's perception of bladder fullness.

Ultrasound (US) is the preferred imaging modality in the pediatric ED in the diagnostic evaluation of girls with suspected pelvic pathology. In the transabdominal approach, urine acts as a sonographic acoustic window to image the adnexa and uterus, but this requires a full bladder. Many high acuity pelvic pathologies presenting to the pediatric ED have significant morbidity and mortality associated with delays in diagnosis. Despite this, diagnostic pelvic US is often delayed by the need to fill the bladder, awaiting a patient's report of subjective sensation of bladder fullness. Images of the bladder using POCUS can be easily obtained at the bedside by emergency physicians, providing a quick assessment of the size and shape of the bladder that may be a more accurate, objective measure of bladder fullness. We aim to assess the utility of POCUS of the bladder compared to patient's sensation of bladder fullness in this clinical scenario. This is a pragmatic, randomized controlled trial of a convenience sample of girls being treated in a pediatric ED who present with an indication for transabdominal pelvic US. Patients will be randomized to two groups: 1. Standard of care group - Patients will be given consecutive IV fluid boluses until sensation of maximum bladder fullness followed by transabdominal pelvic US performed by a radiologist or US technician. 2. Experimental group - Patients will be given consecutive IV fluid boluses until a full bladder is visualized by the ED physician on POCUS followed by transabdominal pelvic US performed by a radiologist or US technician. Patients in both groups will be assessed at 30-minute intervals for sensation of bladder fullness on a 0-4 Likert Scale, total volume of IVF given per kilogram, and POCUS of the bladder. Overall time between initial ordering of transabdominal pelvic US (Time 0) to the time the patient went for successful US will be recorded and compared between the two groups. Success rate of first attempt at transabdominal pelvic US will also be recorded and compared between the two groups.

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