Miami-based Nicklaus Children's Hospital is now one of a handful of pediatric hospitals in the nation to offer intestinal ultrasounds for patients with inflammatory bowel disease. The ultrasounds reduce the need for more invasive procedures typically required to monitor the condition.
The noninvasive ultrasound technology allows specialists to see whether inflammation and other complications associated with IBD are present. The detailed images enable gastroenterologists to monitor patients' condition overtime, such as how they're responding to treatment. Typically, such monitoring would require colonoscopies and endoscopies, which are more invasive and require the patient to fast.
The ultrasound doesn't replace the need for such procedures to diagnose IBD, though it can significantly reduce the number of colonoscopies and endoscopies needed to track patients' condition overtime.
Nicklaus Children's Hospital is now the only pediatric hospital in Florida and one of four in the country to offer intestinal ultrasounds. UChicago Medicine currently operates the nation's largest intestinal ultrasound program and has trained 30 gastroenterologists from around the world on the technology.