Diagnosing and treating gastrointestinal diseases in children can be challenging. But Lina Felipez, MD, and pediatric gastroenterologist at Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami sees a future in intestinal ultrasounds.
Nicklaus Children's is the only hospital in Florida and one of only four in the U.S. performing pediatric intestinal ultrasounds, a noninvasive ultrasound of the lower gastrointestinal tract that provides highly detailed images of the small intestine and colon.
Dr. Felipez is the director of inflammatory bowel disease research at Nicklaus Children's, and primarily works with pediatric IBD patients. She says that the procedure presents a number of benefits for treating children with IBD.
"They're able to eat, they're able to drink before the procedure," Dr. Felipez told Becker's. "A lot of kids are claustrophobic, or they don't want to get in an MRI machine. It's a long time, and they have to drink that nasty contrast. [With intestinal ultrasounds] they have to do none of that."
Children also respond well to the procedure because they can see the results in real time, ask questions and come away with a better understanding of their own treatment and body.
While colonoscopies and endoscopies are still necessary to make an initial diagnosis, intestinal ultrasounds are useful in monitoring treatment progress.
"We are able to see if, after surgery, the disease is coming back at the place that is called the anastomosis, or where the intestines are put together," Dr. Felipez said. "In the long run, what we really want is to be able to do an endoscopy and intestinal ultrasound and then say, 'you're completely healed' with an annual testing ultrasound."
Dr. Felipez said that further research on pediatric intestinal ultrasounds will begin soon on Nicklaus Children's' patient population, and she is hopeful for the growth of the procedure.
"I think it's going to give them a better quality of life and, as a pediatrician, we just want our kids to have a better quality of life," she added.