Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma (FAST) Scan Versus Exploratory Laparotomy in Patients with Blunt Abdominal Trauma

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of FAST scans in patients with blunt abdominal trauma keeping exploratory laparotomy as a gold standard. Study Design: Cross-sectional validation study. Place and Duration of Study: Surgical Unit of Combined Military Hospital Kohat from Jan 2019 to June 2019. Methodology: Trauma patients reporting to the emergency department had a FAST scan using a portable ultrasound machine. The radiologist performed and interpreted the scans within one hour of the patient's arrival. The four standard views were obtained. Those who had positive FAST scans underwent a laparotomy without further evaluation. Patients with negative FAST scans did not have laparotomy unless unstable. Only those patients who underwent laparotomy were included in our study. Results: Out of 70 cases, comparison of the FAST scans in patients with blunt abdominal trauma keeping exploratory laparotomy as the gold standard to diagnose intra-abdominal injury was recorded as 88.88%, 82.35%, 94.00%, 70.00% and 87.14% for sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy respectively. Conclusion: Diagnostic accuracy of FAST scan in diagnosing intra-abdominal injury is higher, so it can be used routinely to diagnose intra-abdominal injury as a result of blunt abdominal trauma