Effectiveness of Point-of-care Lung Ultrasound for the Management of Childhood Lower Respiratory Infections

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to evaluate the effectiveness of point-of-care lung ultrasound versus chest X-ray for the management of childhood lower respiratory infections in a low-resource setting.

The main question it aims to answer is:

Is point-of-care lung ultrasound as effective as chest X-ray for the management of childhood LRIs in a low-resource setting?

Participants will be assigned to either a point-of-care lung ultrasound group (intervention) or a chest X-ray group (control), to compare the effect on overall case management and various clinical outcomes (time to symptom resolution, rate of antibiotic use, length of stay, treatment costs).

Conditions

• Lower Respiratory Infection
• LRTI
• Pneumonia
• Bronchiolitis

Interventions

DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

Point-of-care lung ultrasound

Participants assigned to the intervention group will receive POCLUS which will be performed by one of the trained pediatricians. The procedure involves 12 views: two anterior views, two lateral views and two posterior views on both chest walls

DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

Chest X-ray (digital images)

Participants assigned to the chest X--ray group will be sent to the Radiology department to get a CXR (digital) which will be performed by radio technicians like in routine care. Anteroposterior and/or posteroanterior chest images will be obtained. Reading/ reporting of the digital images will be done by both the radiologist and the enrolling pediatrician. The image/ clinical expert review panels (IERP/ CERP) will also have access to the images for review.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

  collaborator OTHER

• Siddhi Memorial Foundation

  collaborator OTHER

• Nagasaki University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Suraj Bhattarai, MBBS, MSc, DTM&H · LSHTM/Nagasaki U/Siddhi Memorial Hospital

• Bhim Dhoubhadel, MBBS MTM PhD DipPaed DTM&H · Nagasaki University

• Shunmay Yeung, PhD MBBS FRCPCH MRCP DTM&H · London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

2 Months

Max Age

16 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-01-31

Primary Completion

2024-09-30

Completion

2024-09-30

Countries

• Nepal

Study Locations