Author(s)

Seme Engoumou Ambroise Merci^1,2, Mbede Maggy^1,3, Awana Armel Philippe^1,4, Bilounga Ndengue Priscille Edith¹, Onguene Julienne^1,5, Zeh Odile Fernande^1,5

¹Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, The University of Yaoundé I, Yaounde, Cameroon.
²Center for Research and Applied Endoscopic Surgery in Reproduction Health, Yaounde, Cameroon.
³Yaoundé Central Hospital, Yaounde, Cameroon.
⁴Yaoundé Jamot Hospital, Yaounde, Cameroon.
⁵Yaoundé Gyneco-Obstetrical and Pediatric Hospital, Yaounde, Cameroon.

Introduction: The diagnosis of pneumonia is usually made based on clinical manifestations and chest X-ray. The use of ultrasound in detecting pulmonary diseases in general, and especially consolidation syndrome has been demonstrated. The objective of this study was to determine the accuracy of thoracic ultrasound compared to chest X-ray in the diagnosis of infectious pneumonia in children. Methods: Children between 0 to 15 years were included in our study. The lung ultrasound results obtained were compared with those of the chest X-ray used as the reference. Our data were introduced into the EpiInfo 3.5.4 software and analyzed with the EpiInfo 3.5.4 and IBMSPSS Statistics version 20.0 softwares. Microsoft Office Excel 2016 was used to produce Charts. Continuous quantitative variables were presented. Cohen’s Kappa concordance test was applied with confidence interval of 95%. Results: 52 children were enrolled in the study. In imaging, the dominant sign was consolidation syndrome (75.0%) of cases by chest radiography, and in 78.8% of cases by lung ultrasound (p < 0.05). The chest radiograph was identified pleural effusion in 5 cases whereas lung ultrasound was identified in 6 cases. 3 patients with apparently normal chest X-rays had pulmonary ultrasounds suggestive of pneumonia. The degree of agreement between chest X-ray and lung ultrasound in detecting lesions compatible with pneumonia was satisfactory (kappa: 0.784) and excellent in the detection of pleural effusion (0.898). Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that lung echography is a non-ionizing and reliable tool in the diagnosis of childhood’s pneumonia.

Lung Ultrasound, Chest X-Ray, Pneumonia, Children, Yaoundé, Cameroon

Merci, S. , Maggy, M. , Philippe, A. , Edith, B. , Julienne, O. and Fernande, Z. (2019) Diagnostic Value of the Thoracic Ultrasonography Compared to Conventional Chest X-Rays in Pneumonia for Children between 0 to 15 Years: Case Study in Two Hospitals in Yaoundé. Open Journal of Radiology, 9, 10-19. doi: 10.4236/ojrad.2019.91002.