Evaluation of Chronic Pediatric Diarrhoea-Use of Newer Imaging Tools: A More Practical Approach

Diarrhea in children has a world-wide prevalence. Acute diarrhea is usually infective in origin and self-limiting. It is only in severe cases that it needs hospitalization and investigations. Chronic diarrhea in children is by definition “is one with frequent passage of stools lasting for more than three weeks duration” and has a multifactorial etiology requiring history taking, laboratory and imaging studies for determining the cause. High resolution ultrasonography and recently shear wave elastography of the gut have emerged as useful tools which help to evaluate these patients. In this short commentary the author describes the application of these modalities in a systematic manner and discusses the road map based on its findings to triage children with chronic diarrhea.