Role of Bedside Sonography in Detecting Rib Fractures and Related Injuries

Abstract

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.

Keywords

• Rib fracture
• bedside ultrasonography
• injuries
• emergency physician
• sensitivity
• chest X-ray