Detection of Traumatic Knee Arthrotomy in Children Using Point-of-Care Ultrasound, a Review of 2 Cases

These 2 cases involved children who suffered traumatic penetrating injuries to the knee and were ambulatory after the event. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) performed on both patients revealed findings consistent with trapped air in the suprapatellar bursa. Both patients were evaluated with additional imaging and were treated by pediatric orthopedic surgeons for urgent operative irrigation and debridement. There is limited data on the use of POCUS for traumatic knee arthrotomy, especially among pediatric populations. Ultrasound has been well established as a safe and timely imaging modality in a variety of other conditions. In these cases, POCUS represented a low-risk and efficient approach for the diagnosis of traumatic knee arthrotomy in the pediatric emergency department.