Katarzyna Krol, Yi-Ru Chen, Melva O Morales Sierra, Rida Nasir, Naya Mahabir, Lisa Iyeke, Lindsay Jordan, Trupti Shah, Kevin Burke, Matthew Friedman, Daniel Dexeus, Athena Mihailos, Mark Richman, Joshua Guttman
Introduction A computed tomography (CT) scan and point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) are commonly employed for diagnosing small bowel obstructions (SBOs). Prior studies demonstrated that POCUS has 90-95% sensitivity and specificity compared with CT scanning, which is the gold standard. Unlike other imaging modalities (in which the ordering and performing clinician are not the same), POCUS-performing/interpreting sonologists must recognize the risk of confirmation bias in the POCUS application. Per Bayesian analysis, the likelihood of a diagnosis being true following a diagnostic test is based on the ordering clinician's pre-test probability and the test characteristics (sensitivity and specificity, from which positive and negative likelihood ratios can be calculated)...
March 2024: Curēus