Phased-Array Versus Curvilinear Probe for FAST Ultrasonography

Phased-Array Versus Curvilinear Probe for FAST Ultrasonography

Background:

FAST ultrasound is a crucial technique in emergency medicine, enabling rapid assessment of trauma patients.

By allowing visualization of an effusion in a trauma patient in a far more sensitive and specific way than clinical examination, it enables informed decisions to be made on therapeutics, technical gestures, but also the potential receiving service.

Arbitrarily, FAST ultrasound is taught with the cardiac probe (phased-array) and the abdominal probe (curvilinear). The difference in use of these two probes varies according to operator and team, with no figures available.

No recent study has been conducted on the possibility of better diagnostic performance of FAST with a curvilinear versus phased-array probe.

Objective:

The main objective of this project is to evaluate and compare the diagnostic performance of FAST ultrasound using a phased-array probe versus a curvilinear probe in the detection of effusions in trauma patients (FAST protocol).

Materials and methods:

Prospective, interventional, multicenter, randomized study.

Hypothesis tested:

FAST-ultrasound with a curvilinear probe improves diagnostic performance compared with FAST-ultrasound with a phased-array probe.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Trauma patients attending emergency departments in investigating centers
• Age ≥ 18 years
• Indication retained for FAST-ultrasound by the emergency physician in charge of the patient
• Patient affiliated to the French Social Security system or equivalent

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients undergoing treatment limitation or discontinuation
• Pregnant, parturient or breast-feeding women
• Patients deprived of liberty by judicial or administrative decision