Diagnostic Accuracy of Ultrasonography in Blunt Abdominal Trauma

Background/Objective: Patients in unstable clinical conditions with blunt abdominal trauma require rapid evaluation of the abdominal organ injury to assess the need for laparatomy. This prospective study was conducted to determine the use of emergency sonography for evaluating patients with blunt abdominal trauma and to compare the accuracy of sonography with the results of diagnostic peritoneal lavage (DPL), exploratory laparatomy and CT scan. Patients and Methods: Emergency sonography was performed prior to any of the diagnostic methods, peritoneal lavage, exploratory laparatomy and CT, on 204 patients with blunt abdominal trauma. Sonography was performed with the “focused abdominal sonography for trauma” (FAST) technique and six areas of the abdomen were examined to detect free peritoneal fluid. Results: Sonography showed a sensitivity of 95.4%, specificity of 78.4% and an overall accuracy of 89% in the diagnosis of free peritoneal fluid. The positive and negative predictive values of sonography were 89.2% and 90.6%, respectively. Conclusion: Sonography is a reliable and accurate method for the emergency evaluation of blunt abdominal trauma.