CT-guided hook-wire localization of pulmonary nodules in children prior to atypical resection by thoracoscopy: Practical aspects.

In the multidisciplinary treatment of pediatric oncologic patients, multiple imaging tests, biopsies, and resections are required for diagnosis, initial staging, and posterior restaging. In these patients, pulmonary nodules are not always metastases, so the correct diagnosis of these lesions affects their treatment and the patient's survival. Percutaneous localization of pulmonary nodules is key for two reasons: it enables the surgeon to resect the smallest amount of lung tissue possible and it guarantees that the nodule will be included in the resected specimen. Without percutaneous localization, it can be impossible to accomplish these two objectives in patients with very small nodules that are separated from the pleural surface and therefore impossible to see by thoracoscopy. This article reviews the technique for hook-wire localization of pulmonary nodules and the keys to ensuring the best results.

Self-limiting sternal tumors of childhood (SELSTOC): A diagnostic challenge.

INTRODUCTION: Self-limiting sternal tumors of childhood (SELSTOC) are rapidly growing sternal lesions that tend to resolve spontaneously. Patients have no history of infection, trauma, or neoplasms, and the most likely etiologyis an aseptic inflammatory reaction of unknown origin. The differential diagnosis includes a wide spectrum of lesions such as tumors, infections, malformations, or anatomic variants. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We analyzed all cases of sternal masses in pediatric patients seen between 2012 and 2019; five of these had findings compatible with SELSTOC. We retrospectively recorded patients' race, sex, age, clinical presentation, laboratory findings, imaging tests, treatment, and follow-up. RESULTS: We present five cases of rapidly growing sternal lesions whose clinical and radiological features are compatible with SELSTOC. In the absence of alarming symptoms and laboratory markers, watchful waiting could be an appropriate therapeutic approach. However, patients with some findings such as fever, elevated acute phase reactants, and/or comorbidities could require therapeutic interventions such as antibiotics or percutaneous drainage. In our series, depending on the clinical presentation and the patient's comorbidities, different therapeutic approaches were adopted (a conservative approach in two patients, antibiotics in three patients, and percutaneous drainage in one patient). In all cases, the sternal lesion was absent at discharge and/or at later follow-up visits. CONCLUSION: Radiologists and pediatricians must be aware of this entity and the different diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to rapidly growing sternal lesions in pediatricpatients because recognizing SELSTOC can avoid unnecessary diagnostic tests and/or disproportionate therapeutic strategies.

Pediatric chest X-rays during the COVID-19 pandemic. / Radiografía de tórax pediátrica en la era COVID.

BACKGROUND: An infectious disease caused by a new type of coronavirus that can manifest as an acute respiratory infection was discovered in China in mid-December 2019 and soon spread throughout the country and to the rest of the world. Although chest X-rays are the initial imaging technique of choice for low respiratory infections with or without dyspnea, few articles have reported the radiologic findings in children with COVID-19. OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical, laboratory, and chest X-ray findings in pediatric patients with signs and symptoms of respiratory infection attended at our hospital in March 2020. To analyze the frequency of COVID-19 compared to other respiratory infections, and to describe the radiologic manifestations of COVID-19 in pediatric patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This cross-sectional observational study included all children with clinical manifestations of respiratory infection (fever, rhinorrhea, cough, and/or dyspnea) that required chest X-rays in our hospital between March 1 and March 31. RESULTS: A total of 231 pediatric patients (90 (39%) girls and 141 (61%) boys; mean age, 4 y, range 1 month - 16 years) underwent chest X-rays for suspected respiratory infections. Most (88.4%) had mild symptoms; 29.9% had a family member positive for COVID-19 with symptoms similar to those of the patient. Nasal and/or throat swabs were analyzed for SARS-CoV-2 with PCR in the 47 (20.3%) children who presented at the emergency department; 3 (6.3%) of these were positive. Microbiological analyses were done in 85 (36.8%) of all patients, finding infections due to pathogens other than SARS-CoV-2 in 30 (35.3%). One of the patients with a PCR positive for SARS-CoV-2 had urine infection due to E. coli and blood culture positive for S. viridans. Abnormalities were observed on X-rays in 73.2% of the patients. Peribronchial thickening was the most common abnormal finding, observed in 57% of patients. Parenchymal consolidations were observed in 38.5%, being bilateral in 29.2% and associated with pleural effusion in 3.3%. The interstitial lines were thickened in 7.3%, and 7.3% had ground-glass opacities. CONCLUSION: During March 2020, COVID-19 and other symptomatic respiratory infections were observed. The radiologic pattern of these infections is nonspecific, and chest X-rays alone are insufficient for the diagnosis. Children with clinical manifestations compatible with COVID-19 (with or without PCR confirmation of infection by SARS-CoV-2) had mild symptoms and most did not require admission or invasive mechanical ventilation. In a context of community transmission, the absence of a known epidemiological antecedent should not be a contraindication for PCR to detect SARS-CoV-2.

Abdominal emergencies in pediatrics. / Urgencias abdominales en pediatría.

Abdominal symptoms are among the most common reasons for pediatric emergency department visits, and abdominal pain is the most frequently reported symptom. Thorough history taking and physical examination can often reach the correct diagnosis. Knowing the abdominal conditions that are most common in each age group can help radiologists narrow the differential diagnosis. When imaging tests are indicated, ultrasonography is usually the first-line technique, enabling the diagnosis or adding relevant information with the well-known advantages of this technique. Nowadays, plain-film X-ray studies are reserved for cases in which perforation, bowel obstruction, or foreign body ingestion is suspected. It is also important to remember that abdominal pain can also occur secondary to basal pneumonia. CT is reserved for specific indications and in individual cases, for example, in patients with high clinical suspicion of abdominal disease and inconclusive findings at ultrasonography. We review some of the most common conditions in pediatric emergencies, the different imaging tests indicated in each case, and the imaging signs in each condition.

[Neonatal renal vein thrombosis: early diagnosis using Doppler ultrasonography and long-term sequelae]. / Trombosis venosa renal neonatal: diagnóstico precoz con ecografía Doppler y secuelas a largo plazo.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the physiopathological mechanisms in perinatal renal vein thrombosis and the associated risk factors, with emphasis on the clinical and radiological characteristics and on the long-term evolution. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We retrospectively studied a total of 11 cases of neonatal renal vein thrombosis; the mean age of patients at diagnosis was 3 days. We analyzed the type of presentation, the clinical manifestations, and the findings at B-mode and Doppler ultrasonography, as well as the treatment undertaken and the long-term sequelae. RESULTS: At the time of diagnosis, the triad of a palpable mass, unequivocal hematuria, and thrombocytopenia was present in only 63.63% of patients. A prothrombotic risk factor was identified in the newborn or mother in 45.45% of cases. At ultrasonographic examination, all newborns had enlarged kidneys and in all cases it was impossible to differentiate between the renal cortex and the renal medulla. In 4 of the 11 cases, hyperechogenic intramedullary linear images characteristic of the initial stage of thrombosis were identified. Functional follow-up studies using DMSA (dimercaptosuccinic acid) and MAG-3 (mercaptoacetyltriglycine acid) revealed morphological abnormalities in all patients; 7 patients had a nonfunctioning kidney. CONCLUSIONS: Visualizing echogenic bands within the medulla should alert radiologists to the initial phase of renal vein thrombosis and enable the appropriate treatment to be administered. With the exception of cases discovered before birth, renal vein thrombosis has a poor prognosis, with atrophy and renal failure in the long term.