Purpose or Case Report: The purpose of our study is to determine the significance of bladder debris seen incidentally by ultrasound in pediatric patients undergoing outpatient non-emergent ultrasounds.
Methods & Materials: A retrospective review was performed of children and adolescents aged 18 years and younger who had an outpatient ultrasound examination that included imaging of the urinary bladder from September 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021. Ultrasound images were reviewed by fellowship trained pediatric radiologists for the presence or absence of bladder debris, type of debris (floating versus layering), amount of debris (small, moderate, or large), and presence or absence of bladder wall thickening.
Results: A total of 925 patients were included (median age 5.54 years, IQR: 0.94-14.65, 498 (53.8%) male). 88 (9.5%) patients had urinary bladder debris, 45 female (51.1%). 6 (6.8%) of the patients with urinary bladder debris on ultrasound had a UTI. All patients treated for UTI had floating type debris on ultrasound.
Conclusions: Bladder debris in pediatric outpatients rarely indicates UTI. We conclude that the presence of bladder debris in the outpatient setting should not alone necessitate urine studies in all patients, hopefully obviating the need for what can sometimes be an invasive procedure in younger children.