OBJECTIVE To evaluate the FAST (focused assessment with sonography in trauma) examination for determining traumatic pericardial effusion and intraperitoneal fluid indicative of injury in patients with penetrating anterior chest trauma. METHODS An observational prospective study was conducted over a 30-month period at an urban level I trauma center. FAST was performed in the emergency departme...

BACKGROUND Focused assessment with sonography in trauma (FAST) is widely used and endorsed by guidelines, but little evidence exists regarding the utility of the cardiac portion in blunt trauma. The traditional FAST includes the routine performance of cardiac sonography, regardless of risk for hemopericardium. STUDY OBJECTIVES Our goal was to estimate the prevalence of hemopericardium due to ...

BACKGROUND Our objective was to evaluate the accuracy of paramedic-performed Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (PFAST) for detection of free fluid in patients admitted to the Emergency Department (ED) following trauma. METHODS After four hours of didactic and four hours of hands-on training, four paramedics prospectively evaluated trauma patients. Our gold standard was the official...

BACKGROUND Immediate recognition of life-threatening conditions and injuries is the key to trauma management. To date, the impact of focused assessment with computed tomography in trauma (FACTT) has not been formally assessed. We aimed to find out whether the concept of using FACTT during primary trauma survey has a negative or positive effect on survival. METHODS In a retrospective, multicen...

BACKGROUND To determine the diagnostic Accuracy of Focused Assessment Sonography for Trauma (FAST) and repeated FAST in the patients with blunt abdominal trauma. METHODS In this retrospective study we collected the data of all patients from September 2007 to July 2011 with gastrointestinal injury. The intraoperative outcome was compared with FAST technique and the repeated or delayed sonograp...

INTRODUCTION In pediatric care, the role of focused abdominal sonography in trauma (FAST) remains ill defined. The objective of this study was to assess the sensitivity and specificity of FAST for detecting free peritoneal fluid in children. METHODS The trauma registry of a single level I pediatric trauma center was queried for the results of FAST examination of consecutive pediatric (<18 yea...