Transabdominal sonography of the normal gastroesophageal junction in children

Purpose. Because sonography identifies abnormalities of the gastroesophagea l junction, it is essential to understand the normal sonographic anatomy. T he aim of this study was to determine the normal sonographic appearance of the gastroesophageal junction and its variations and to provide measurement s of the abdominal esophagus in asymptomatic, healthy children. Methods. in this prospective study, 124 healthy children (75 boys and 49 gi rls), aged 2 days-12 years, underwent abdominal sonography. With the patien t in a supine position, the transducer was placed under the xiphoid and the ultrasound beam was directed cephalad through the window of the left lobe of the liver. The length of the abdominal esophagus was measured from the p oint at which it penetrated the diaphragm to the gastroesophageal junction. The thickness was measured on the anterior wall at the midpoint of the abd ominal esophagus. Results, The gastroesophageal junction was identified by sonography in all of the children. The mean length of the abdominal portion of the esophagus ranged from 18 mm in the newborns to 34 mm in children older than 6 years. The wall thickness ranged from 2.4 mm to 5.7 mm. Conclusions. Our results indicate that visualization of the gastroesophagea l junction and measurement of the abdominal esophagus are readily achievabl e with real-time sonography in healthy children. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons , Inc.