Why consider contrast-enhanced ultrasound (ce-US) in children?

Children are very specific; particularly in terms of radiation sensitivity. They not only have a tenfold higher sensitivity towards radiation, but also a longer expected lifespan where potentially radiation induced tumours may manifest(1–7). Therefore radiation protection is of outmost importance. At present – with standard imaging algorithms – many conditions are diagnosed by imaging which using ionising radiation (x-ray); particularly those with relatively high radiation burden such as fluoroscopy or CT should be replaced by other non-ionising imaging methods if feasible and available – following the ALARA-Principle(4, 6, 8).