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Abstract
Over a 3 year period all severely injured blunt trauma patients who were investigated
with abdominal ultrasound examinations (AUS) or diagnostic peritoneal lavage (DPL)
to exclude intra-abdominal injury were evaluated. The ultrasound examinations were
performed by radiologists in 220 severely injured patients (20 of whom also had DPL).
The overall sensitivity and specificity of abdominal ultrasound were 82.7% and 99.5%,
respectively. The sensitivity increased to 89.1% by repeat scanning. In comparison,
72 DPLs were performed in severely injured patients; the overall sensitivity and specificity
of DPL were 82.8% and 97.2%, respectively. DPL resulted in more non-therapeutic laparotomies,
![Math Eq]()
(36%) compared with ![Math Eq]()
(13%) with AUS. Abdominal ultrasound is now the first line investigation at this
centre for evaluation of possible intra-abdominal injury in injured patients.
(36%) compared with 
(13%) with AUS. Abdominal ultrasound is now the first line investigation at this
centre for evaluation of possible intra-abdominal injury in injured patients.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
September 30,
1997
Identification
Copyright
© 1998 Published by Elsevier Inc.
