{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,27]],"date-time":"2026-06-27T17:45:24Z","timestamp":1782582324615,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780272000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780272000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["J Int Med Res"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,6]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Pediatric head trauma is common, but computed tomography exposes children to ionizing radiation. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of point-of-care ultrasound for pediatric skull fractures and clarified its role as an adjunct to clinical assessment rather than a replacement for computed tomography when intracranial injury is suspected.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We conducted a systematic review and bivariate random-effects diagnostic test meta-analysis guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020 statement and registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (Registration Number: CRD420251139217). PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and Web of Science were searched from inception through 3 September 2025. Two reviewers independently screened studies, extracted 2\u2009\u00d7\u20092 diagnostic data, and assessed risk of bias using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 tool.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Nine studies conducted in emergency department settings met the inclusion criteria. Point-of-care ultrasound demonstrated a pooled sensitivity of 0.90 (95% confidence interval: 0.84\u20130.94), specificity of 0.98 (95% confidence interval: 0.94\u20130.99), and an area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.96 (95% confidence interval: 0.94\u20130.97). The summary positive likelihood ratio was 41.73 (95% confidence interval: 15.85\u2013109.87), and the negative likelihood ratio was 0.10 (95% confidence interval: 0.07\u20130.17). Deeks\u2019 funnel plot showed no evidence of small-study effects (P\u2009=\u20090.80).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Point-of-care ultrasound shows high diagnostic accuracy for detecting pediatric skull fractures and may support bedside risk stratification in selected children with low- or intermediate-risk mild head trauma. However, most isolated linear skull fractures are managed conservatively, and point-of-care ultrasound does not evaluate intracranial injury. Computed tomography decisions should therefore remain anchored in neurological status, injury mechanism, validated pediatric head injury decision rules, and clinician judgment.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1177\/03000605261460310","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,24]],"date-time":"2026-06-24T11:42:46Z","timestamp":1782301366000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Diagnostic performance of point-of-care ultrasound for pediatric skull fractures: A systematic review and meta-analysis"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"54","author":[{"given":"Xiaoyang","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosurgery, Taizhou Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital, China"},{"name":"Department of Rehabilitation, Taizhou Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gaofeng","family":"Rao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosurgery, Taizhou Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital, China"},{"name":"Department of Rehabilitation, Taizhou Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gang","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Emergency and Intensive Care Unit, The First People's Hospital of Linhai, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yangtian","family":"Ye","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hangzhou Medical College"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaoshuang","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Emergency and Intensive Care Unit, The First People's Hospital of Linhai, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiuzhou","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Emergency and Intensive Care Unit, The First People's Hospital of Linhai, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Min","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Emergency and Intensive Care Unit, The First People's Hospital of Linhai, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lihui","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Emergency and Intensive Care Unit, The First People's Hospital of Linhai, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Liuxian","family":"Pan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurosurgery, Taizhou Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital, China"},{"name":"Department of Rehabilitation, Taizhou Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5993-0737","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Weiting","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Emergency and Intensive Care Unit, The First People's Hospital of Linhai, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xianlong","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Emergency Medicine, Wenzhou Medical University Huangyan Hospital, Taizhou First People\u2019s Hospital, China."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_3_2_2","first-page":"1913","article-title":"A systematic review and meta-analysis on the management and outcome of isolated skull fractures in pediatric patients","volume":"10","author":"Palavani LB","year":"2023","unstructured":"Palavani LB, Bertani R, de Barros Oliveira L, et al. 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