SynthesisBMC emergency medicine2023
Is it time to re-think FAST? A systematic review and meta-analysis of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound (CEUS) and conventional ultrasound for initial assessment of abdominal trauma.
Synthesis in BMC emergency medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in traumatic solid organ injuries in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Pediatric radiology · 2025Pooled it
- Point-of-care ultrasound in trauma: a systematic review of recent literature.Journal of ultrasonography · 2026Review
- Review
- The application of focused assessment with sonography for trauma in resource-limited settings: a scoping review.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Controversies in contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS): pregnancy, paediatric, abdominal trauma, complex renal cysts, and endovascular aortic repair follow-up.Insights into imaging · 2025Article
- Emergency Radiology: Current Status and Recent Advances.Korean journal of radiology · 2025Article
- Real-time evaluation of active bleeding severity in soft-tissue hematomas via contrast-enhanced ultrasound: a case series.Quantitative imaging in medicine and surgery · 2024Article
- Contrast-enhanced point of care ultrasound for the evaluation of stable blunt abdominal trauma by the emergency physician: A prospective diagnostic study.Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2024Article
- Microbubble Contrast Agents Improve Detection of Active Hemorrhage.IEEE open journal of engineering in medicine and biology · 2024Article
- Point-of-Care Ultrasound-History, Current and Evolving Clinical Concepts in Emergency Medicine.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Review
- Traumatic segmental renal infarction due to renal apical artery thrombosis by minor blunt abdominal trauma: the role of CEUS.Journal of ultrasound · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma (FAST) examination using conventional ultrasound has limited utility for detecting solid organ injury. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis compares the performance of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) to conventional ultrasound when used as the initial assessment for abdominal trauma prior to computed tomography (CT) imaging.
methodsA systematic literature search of major databases was conducted of human studies investigating the diagnostic accuracy of conventional ultrasound and CEUS occurring prior to CT imaging for abdominal trauma. The study followed the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement. The quality of studies was evaluated using the QUADAS-2 (Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2) tool. Paired pooled sensitivity and specificity between conventional ultrasound and CEUS were compared using data extracted from the eligible studies. Diagnostic odds ratio, number needed to diagnose values, and likelihood ratios were also determined.
resultsTen studies were included. More than half of the included studies demonstrated low risk of bias. Using McNemar's test to assess for paired binary observations, we found that CEUS had statistically higher sensitivity (0.933 vs. 0.559; two-tailed, P < 0.001) and specificity (0.995 vs. 0.979; two-tailed, P < 0.001) than conventional ultrasound in the setting of abdominal trauma, respectively. When divided into particular findings of clinical interest, CEUS had statistically higher sensitivity than conventional ultrasound in screening for active bleeding and injuries to all abdominal solid organs. CEUS also had superior diagnostic odds ratios, number needed to diagnose values, and likelihood ratios than conventional ultrasound.
conclusionThe diagnostic value of CEUS was higher than that of conventional ultrasound for differentiating traumatic abdominal injuries when used as the initial assessment in the emergency department.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.