Peds/OB/GYN

Point-of-care ultrasound for suspected appendicitis in kids proves accurate
Using portable ultrasound as a first-line imaging study in kids with suspected appendicitis helps reduce emergency room length of stay and reduces the need for CT scans, according to a team of Mount Sinai researchers. Bedside ultrasound, often referred to as point-of-care ultrasonography, has a specificity of about 94%, meaning that it misses few cases, , the Mt. Sinai researchers add. Results from the study are published online February 10 in the peer-reviewed journal Academic Emergency Medicine. MedicalXpress

Premature babies benefit from adult talk, study finds
Premature infants face a number of challenges, including a known risk of language delay. But a new study suggests that exposing "preemies" to more adult language in the neonatal intensive care unit can increase their language abilities at 18 months. MedicalXpress

Syncope in Children: Can You Skip the Cardiology Referral?
Syncopal events, in which an individual has sudden loss of consciousness as a result of reduced cranial blood flow, followed by prompt recovery, are common in children. However, very few episodes of syncope have cardiac causes. Medscape

Dexamethasone Tames Acute Asthma in Kids, With Less Vomiting
Giving children with acute asthma flare-ups 1 or 2 doses of dexamethasone in the emergency department (ED) provides equivalent relief to a 5-day course of prednisone while reducing the chance of triggering vomiting, according to a meta-analysis by Grant E. Keeney, MD, from the Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and colleagues, who published the results of their analysis online February 10 in Pediatrics. Medscape

Gestational Hypertension: Monitoring vs Delivery?
Pregnant women with nonsevere hypertensive disorders between 34-37 weeks should be monitored closely rather than delivered immediately to avoid neonatal respiratory distress, researchers said here. In a delivery group of 352 women, 0.9% of the mothers experienced adverse outcomes, but 5.7% of the neonates developed respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), while in the expectant monitoring group, 2.8% of moms had adverse outcomes, while RDS occurred in only 1.7% of the neonates, Kim Broekhuijsen, MD, of the University of Groningen in The Netherlands, and colleagues said at the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. MedPage Today