CASE REPORT article
Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1639412
This article is part of the Research TopicUse of lung ultrasound in critical ill children with acute lung diseaseView all 6 articles
Case Report: Pulmonary Color Doppler Ultrasonography Features of Congenital Tuberculosis in a Preterm Infant
Provisionally accepted
- Second Affiliated Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
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This study explores the color Doppler ultrasonography features of congenital tuberculosis in preterm infants through a detailed analysis of a case from February 2025, including clinical, NGS, and sonographic data. The findings identify specific vascular signatures that facilitate early diagnosis, offering a valuable reference for clinicians encountering similar cases. High-frequency probe ultrasonography was used to characterize pulmonary lesions and differentiate tuberculosis from bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (NRDS). A male infant born at gestational age of 28 weeks (birth weight: 1180 g) presented with respiratory distress and cyanosis (Apgar score: 7 at 1 min). Initial ultrasonography revealed multiple confluent B-lines in both lungs. At 60 days postpartum, ultrasonography showed thickened pleura, scattered subpleural consolidations, atelectasis in the lower lobes, and hyperechoic fragments moving with respiration. First-line anti-TB regimen, isoniazid, rifampin, and pyrazinamide were administered and serial monitoring via color Doppler ultrasound and chest CT demonstrated favorable disease control. Main take-away lessons: Pulmonary color Doppler ultrasonography, combined with clinical history, can aid in the diagnosis of congenital tuberculosis, and congenital TB should be considered in preterm infants with refractory pneumonia. Additionally, NGS is a valuable tool for rapid pathogen identification.
Keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, congenital tuberculosis, Color Dopplerultrasound, Neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (NRDS), preterm infant
Received: 02 Jun 2025; Accepted: 09 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhou, Guo, Ma and Zhang. 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: Yunfeng Zhang, zhangyunf@jlu.edu.cn
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