Aim
Quick diagnosis of hidden intra-abdominal injuries is mandatory to prevent morbidity and mortality in abdominal trauma patients. This is a clinical audit study aiming to evaluate the practice of ultrasonography (US) and multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) in the diagnosis of abdominal trauma patients.
Patients and methods
This clinical audit study was conducted from November 2017 to January 2018 in Assiut University Hospital on patients undergoing an abdominal US and abdominal MDCT scanning for the diagnosis of abdominal trauma.
Results
Of the 65 traumatized patients with positive focused assessment of sonography in trauma (FAST), 55 of them underwent MDCT examination while the rest of them were in critical condition and underwent immediate surgical intervention. There were 65 patients, 54 men and 11 women with a mean ± SD age 23.9 ± 14.9. Regarding the mode of trauma, the majority of the cases were due to blunt abdominal trauma (72.3%) while 27.7% had penetrating trauma. The overall sensitivity and specificity of US in the detection of solid organ injury are 45.5 and 96.3%, respectively. The sensitivity of FAST examination in the detection of intraperitoneal collection reached 98%.
Conclusion
US with FAST examination is the modality of choice in the initial evaluation of traumatized patients while contrast-enhanced MDCT is the imaging modality of choice in evaluating hemodynamically stable traumatic patients.