To determine the accuracy of focused assessment with sonography for trauma done by nonradiologists and its comparative analysis with radiologists in emergency department of a level 1 trauma center of India

Abstract

Background:Focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) is an important skill during trauma resuscitation. Use of point of care ultrasound among the trauma team working in emergency care settings is lacking in India.Objective:To determine the accuracy of FAST done by nonradiologists (NR) when compared to radiologists during primary survey of trauma victims in the emergency department of a level 1 trauma center in India.Materials and Methods:A prospective study was done during primary survey of resuscitation of nonconsecutive patients in the resuscitation bay. The study subjects included NR such as one consultant emergency medicine, two medicine residents, one orthopedic resident and one surgery resident working as trauma team. These subjects underwent training at 3-day workshop on emergency sonography and performed 20 supervised positive and negative scans for free fluid. The FAST scans were first performed by NR and then by radiology residents (RR). The performers were blinded to each other's sonography findings. Computed tomography (CT) and laparotomy findings were used as gold standard whichever was feasible. Results were compared between both the groups. Intraobserver variability among NR and RR were noted.Results:Out of 150 scans 144 scans were analyzed. Mean age of the patients was 28 [1-70] years. Out of 24 true positive patients 18 underwent CT scan and exploratory laparotomies were done in six patients. Sensitivity of FAST done by NR and RR were 100% and 95.6% and specificity was 97.5% in both groups. Positive predictive value among NR and RR were 88.8%, 88.46% and negative predictive value were 97.5% and 99.15%. Intraobserver performance variation ranged from 87 to 97%.Conclusion:FAST performed by NRs is accurate during initial trauma resuscitation in the emergency department of a level 1 trauma center in India.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: A Comparative Analysis of Diagnostic Accuracy of Focused Assessment With Sonography for Trauma Performed by Emergency Medicine and Radiology Residents

“…Bhoi et al evaluated the accuracy of FAST done by nonradiologists and compared it to radiologists-performed FAST in the emergency department of a trauma center in India. Sensitivity values of FAST done by NR and RR were 100% and 95.6% and specificity was 97.5% in both groups ( 8 ).…”

Diagnostic accuracy of emergency-performed focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) in blunt abdominal trauma

“…Although ultrasound is probably the most strongly operator-dependent of all imaging modalities ( 8 ), there are reports that FAST operators with a broad range of experience can perform the task, without any impact on the results ( 9 ). Surgeon-performed or non-radiologist FAST technique seems to be an accurate method to evaluate the possibility of blunt abdominal trauma in stable patients in detecting free fluid ( 7 , 10 – 12 ). Although it is difficult to perform in cases of excessive bowel gas, obesity, and an empty bladder ( 2 ), finding fluid in the right upper quadrant by FAST resulted in a higher probability of subsequent therapeutic laparotomy ( 13 , 14 ).…”

Teaching Point-of-Care Ultrasound in Medicine

“…Changes in learner behaviour (Kirpatrick III) was evaluated in 50 studies out of 421 studies (12%). 3,6,7,9,10,61,67,68,114,121,124,125,[128][129][130]132,141,142, The majority of these studies measured learner behaviour by determining the amount of POCUS scans performed after the training period had finished (42, 84%), 3,7,10,67,68,114,121,124,[128][129][130]132,142,[162][163][164][165][166][167][169][170][171][172][173][174][175][176][177][178][179][180]…”