Family Practice and Palliative Care (Jul 2022)
Adequateness of radiography in recognizing rib fractures in minor chest trauma: A comparison of the efficacy of sonography and radiography
Abstract
Introduction: The most common injury resulting from blunt chest trauma is a rib fracture (25%) which is usually visible on radiographs. However, radiographs sometimes cannot show fractures, especially those in cartilage, unless they're densely calcified. The present study aimed to investigate the role of ultrasonography (US) in detecting rib fractures with minor blunt chest trauma and comparing its success with posteroanterior (PA) chest radiography.Methods: Patients with minor blunt chest trauma who had previously undergone US and radiography to assess suspected rib fractures, between June 2017– March 2019, were included. Radiography was obtained in the PA projection. US was performed by a radiologist who identified fractures by the disruption of the anterior margin of the rib on the US. The incidence and location of the fractures detected by US and radiography were then compared.Results: Totally 126 patients were included in the study. Ninety-eight patients (78%) were admitted to the hospital for the first time, and 28 patients (22%) for the second time (they previously admitted to the other hospitals and were evaluated as ‘normal’ by radiography). A total of 108 fractures ( in 79 patients (63%) ) were detected based on radiography and US examination, while 47 patients (37%) had no diagnostic evidence of fracture. All fractures were correctly detected by ultrasonography (100%), whereas radiography revealed 16 fractures (14.81%). A statistically significant difference in diagnostic capability was found between patients diagnosed by radiography and US (p=0.001).Conclusion: Ultrasonographic imaging is significantly superior to radiography in terms of accuracy in diagnosing rib fractures. Ultrasound was found to be significantly superior to radiography regardless of trauma site, localization, and location. Even though some rib areas are inaccessible on ultrasonographic evaluation, rapid evaluation of the most affected areas is most effective with ultrasonography when it comes to minor energy chest trauma. For this reason, the US increases the accuracy of diagnosis in minor chest traumas and rib fractures and decreases the repetitive referral of patients to health institutions by reducing the missed diagnosis.Keywords: Rib fractures, thoracic injuries, trauma, ultrasonography, radiography
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