Role of Bedside Sonography in Detecting Rib Fractures and Related Injuries

• Main Authors: Hassan Amiri, Niloofar Ghodrati, Tayeb Ramim, Ali Ghorban, Samad Shams-Vahdati, Mehran Jalilzadeh Binazar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Galenos Yayinevi 2019-03-01
• Series: Eurasian Journal of Emergency Medicine
• Subjects: Rib fracture; bedside ultrasonography; injuries; emergency physician; sensitivity; chest X-ray
• Online Access: http://akademikaciltip.com/archives/archive-detail/article-preview/role-of-bedside-sonography-in-detecting-rib-fractu/24289

Aim:About 40% of patients with trauma, experience chest related injuries. Rib fracture remains the most frequent finding in chest trauma. Some literatures have suggested chest wall ultrasonography as a potential replacement for chest X-ray (CXR) in detecting rib fractures. The aim of this study is to assess sensitivity and specificity of bedside ultrasonography in detecting rib fractures and related injuries.Materials and Methods:Patients between April 2012 and April 2014 were enrolled in our prospective cross-sectional study. Then emergency medicine specialists performed a bedside ultrasonography to detect any probable fracture and suspected injuries. We took CXRs and an expert radiologist looked for fracture and related injuries. A chest computerized tomography scan was taken and compared with findings of CXR and ultrasonography.Results:Out of 360 patients, 238 met our inclusion criteria and enrolled in the study; where 222 (93.3%) were male and 16 (6.7%) were female with the average age of 33.78±11.62 (± standard deviation). The sensitivity and specificity of two modalities in detecting fracture, pneumothorax, hemothorax and contusion were analyzed.Conclusion:Our study showed that bedside ultrasonography could substitute CXR in detecting not only rib fractures but also related comorbidities especially in minor trauma.