Survey of abdominal ultrasound and diagnostic peritoneal lavage for suspected intra-abdominal injury following blunt trauma

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, 9 25 (36%) compared with 3 23 (13%) with AUS. Abdominal ultrasound is now the first line investigation at this centre for evaluation of possible intra-abdominal injury in injured patients.