Towards evidence-based emergency medicine: best BETs from the Manchester Royal Infirmary. BET 2: Can emergency physicians safely rule in or rule out paediatric intussusception in the emergency department using bedside ultrasound?

A short cut review was carried out to establish whether emergency physicians (EPs) could confirm or refute the diagnosis of intussusception with the help of bedside ultrasonography. Two observational studies were directly relevant to the question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these papers are tabulated. The clinical bottom line was that EPs operated ultrasound was specific enough to rule in children with intussusception but its role to rule out this diagnosis needed to be further explored.