CASE REPORT article
Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Pediatric Critical Care
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1637262
Air–Fluid Point: A Specific Ultrasound Sign for the Diagnosis of Hydropneumothorax in Newborn Infants
Provisionally accepted
- Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
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Currently, lung ultrasound (LUS) is widely used worldwide for the diagnosing conditions such as neonatal pneumothorax (PTX) and pleural effusion, which are both common conditions during the neonatal period. However, the coexistence or simultaneous occurrence of both conditions, namely, hydropneumothorax, is relatively rare in clinical practice. Ultrasound enables a reliable diagnosis and can be used to guide and monitor appropriate treatment. In this case report, we describe a new ultrasound sign, the air‒fluid point, which we propose as a specific sign for the diagnosis of neonatal hydropneumothorax.
Keywords: Air–fluid point, Hydropneumothorax, Lung ultrasound, Newborn infant, Pneumothorax, Pleural Effusion
Received: 29 May 2025; Accepted: 01 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu and Jiang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jing Liu, Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
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