A Retrospective Analysis of FAST-Sonography Reliability for Blunt Abdominal Trauma Management at Abo-Slim Trauma Hospital: Surgi-cal Outcomes and CT Comparisons
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69667/lmj.251730Abstract
Blunt abdominal trauma (BAT) represents a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in emergency medicine. Accurate and timely diagnosis, along with appropriate intervention, is crucial in the effective management of trauma patients with BAT. Failure to identify occult injuries may result in preventable adverse outcomes. Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma (FAST) and computed tomography (CT-Scans) are essential diagnos-tic tools that aid clinicians in accurately diagnose and manage patients with BAT. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical utility of FAST-Scans performed by emergency surgeons at a regional trauma center (Abo-Slim Trauma Hospital) in the assessment of BAT patients. Additionally, it exam-ines the limitations of FAST and explores potential strategies to enhance its diagnostic efficacy. A hundred of consecutive BAT patients at a Level I trauma center from 2009-2012 were studied, retrospectively. FAST-Scan per-formance was evaluated against laparotomy/CT-Scan findings, with statis-tical analysis using Fisher's exact test and multivariate regression. FAST-Scan demonstrated excellent sensitivity (98.3%) and reliable accuracy (89.5%) for detecting hemoperitoneum, though with limited specificity (14.3%). While CT showed superior anatomical characterization (100% ac-curacy). FAST-Scan remains an indispensable first-line tool for rapid triage in blunt abdominal trauma when interpreted by trained clinicians.
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