Abstract

THE ROLE OF FOCUSED ASSESSMENT WITH SONOGRAPHY FOR TRAU¬MA (FAST) IN MANAGEMENT OF BLUNT ABDOMINAL TRAUMA PATIENTS IN CORRELATION WITH ABDOMINAL CT SCAN

*Dr. Ragad A. Alhameed Mohamadraiz, Dr. Abdulameer A. M. Almosawi and Dr. Hassan Abdulla Abadi Alaquli

ABSTRACT

Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma (FAST) Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma (FAST) was first described by Rozycki et al. in 1990 as an accurate, noninvasive and cost-effective diagnostic tool.[1] It is used as the initial screening tool to detect the Presence of intra-abdominal free fluid and to indirectly confirm Abdominal injury as the source of haemorrhage in hemodynamically unstable patients who would then require emergency laparotomy before further time is spent on imaging.[2] FAST has emerged as a useful diagnostic tool.[3,4,5,6] Before its development, more invasive procedures were required to evaluate these patients, including diagnostic peritoneal lavage and at times laparotomy.[7] The bedside examination that used at FAST may be useful as a rapid screening study, particularly in patients too unstable to undergo an abdominal CT scan.[8,9] FAST is poor at identifying organ-specific injury and may Under-diagnose intra-abdominal injuries, which is a serious limitation in the context of nonoperative management of abdominal injuries.[10] FAST may not be accurate in obese patients, in patients with ileus, or subcutaneous emphysema. Further, it is an operator dependent technique and does not differentiate between blood and free bowel contents (gas and fecal material).[11] Although, it is nowadays the first imaging step in evaluation of intra-abdominal hemorrhage in trauma patients.[12]

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