ABSTRACT Pericardial effusion (PCE) secondary to penetrating traumas is a critical condition requiring prompt diagnosis and intervention. This meta‐analysis evaluated the diagnostic performance of point‐of‐care ultrasound (POCUS) in detecting PCE and its impact on patient outcomes. Data from 10 studies involving 3785 patients demonstrated that POCUS has a pooled sensitivity of 87% and specificity of 99%, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.96. Survival rates among true positive cases were 93%, with a mean time to intervention of 7–13 min. Overall, POCUS has a high specificity and sensitivity for detecting PCE among patients with penetrating injuries. However, a negative POCUS exam should be accompanied by diagnostic modalities, such as computed tomography or formal echocardiography to confirm the absence of PCE.
Zaki et al. (Sun,) studied this question.