Jeffrey W Carter, Mark H Falco, Michael S Chopko, William J Flynn, Charles E Wiles Iii, Weidun Alan Guo
INTRODUCTION: The Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma examination (FAST) is currently taught and recommended in the ATLS(®), often as an addendum to the primary survey for patients with blunt abdominal trauma. Although it is non-invasive and rapidly performed at bedside, the utility of FAST in blunt abdominal trauma has been questioned. We designed this study to examine our hypothesis that FAST is not an efficacious screening tool for identifying intra-abdominal injuries. METHODS: We performed a retrospective chart review of all patients with confirmatory diagnosis of blunt abdominal injuries with CT and/or laparotomy for a period of 1...
May 2015: Injury