Comparison of Ultrasound and Plain Radiography for the Detection of Long-bone Fractures

Point of care ultrasound for rapid assessment and treatment of palliative care patients in acute medical settings

The combination of an ageing population with improving survival in malignant and non-malignant disease processes results in a growing cohort of patients with advanced or end-stage chronic diseases who require acute medical care. Emergency care has historically been stereotyped as the identification and treatment of acute life-threatening problems. Although palliative care may be considered to be new to the formal curriculum of emergency medicine, in many domains the ultrasound skillset of a physician in acute medical care can be efficaciously deployed the benefit of patients with both malignant and non-malignant disease processes that require palliative care in the full breadth of acute healthcare settings. In diagnostic domains (abdominal pain, urinary tract obstruction, dyspnoea, venous thromboembolism and musculoskeletal pain) and for specific intervention guidance (thoracentesis, paracentesis, venous access, regional anaesthesia and musculoskeletal interventions) we suggest that POCUS has the potential to streamline improve patient satisfaction, streamline diagnostic strategies, optimise patient length of stay, expedite timely symptomatic relief and reduce complications in this important patient population. POCUS is a mandatory competence in the European curriculum of internal medicine, and specific training programs which cover applications in the domains of palliative care in acute care settings are available. Supervision, quality assurance and appropriate documentation are required. We expect that as the availability of mobile units suitable for point of care applications increases, these applications should become standard of care in the acute management of patients who require palliative care.

A Pilot Prospective Study to Validate Point-of-Care Ultrasound in Comparison to X-Ray Examination in Detecting Fractures

Despite its limitations, conventional radiography is the method of choice for fracture evaluation in the emergency department. Only a few studies, moreover in limited populations, have evaluated the possible benefits of ultrasound (US), and especially of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), in the diagnosis of fractures. We sought to compare the accuracy of POCUS with that of conventional radiography in the diagnosis of bone fractures. This prospective study with a non-randomly allocated convenience sample was conducted at two academic medical centers. Four physicians, with focused training in musculoskeletal POCUS, evaluated consecutive patients with suspected orthopedic injury. US and X-ray examination results were treated as dichotomous variables with either fracture present or fracture absent. Descriptive statistics were calculated in addition to prevalence, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value including 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Cohen's κ coefficient was determined as a measurement of the level of agreement. Four hundred sixty-nine patients (404 adult and 65 pediatric) ranging in age from 1-97 y were enrolled at two different hospitals. Seven hundred six examinations, both US and X-ray, were performed in 634 suspected fractures in adults (age ≥18 y) and 72 in children. On physical examination, swelling, localized hematoma and functional limitation were found in 64.61%, 34.97% and 53.52, respectively. The sensitivity of US examination was 93.89% (CI: 89.74%-96.49%) for all patients and 94.30% (CI: 89.77%-96.98%) and 91.67% (CI: 76.41%-97.82%) in adult and pediatric groups, respectively. Specificity was 94.13% (CI: 91.53-95.99), 94.56% (CI: 91.89-96.41) and 88.89% (CI: 73.00-96.38) for the whole group, adults and children, respectively. The positive predictive value was 88.48% (CI: 83.62%-92.08%), 88.35% (CI: 82.97%-92.24%) and 89.19% (CI: 73.64%-96.48%) for the whole group, adults and children, respectively. The negative predictive value was 96.98% (CI: 94.86%-98.27%), 97.43% (CI: 95.31%-98.64%) and 91.43% (CI: 75.81%-97.76%) in the three groups, respectively. Cohen's κ coefficient revealed high agreement of 0.87 for both the whole group and adult patients and 0.81 for pediatric patients. We found that POCUS has significant diagnostic accuracy in evaluating fracture compared with plain radiography, with excellent sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values.