Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

2018

Journal

Emergency Medicine International

DOI

10.1155/2018/3684081

Abstract

Radiological imaging plays an essential role in the evaluation of a patient with suspected small bowel obstruction (SBO). In a few studies, point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has been utilized as a primary imaging modality in patients with suspected SBO. POCUS has been shown to be an accurate tool in the diagnosis of SBO with multiple research studies noting a consistent high sensitivity with a range of 94–100% and specificity of 81–100%. Specific sonographic findings that increase the likelihood of SBO include dilatation of small bowel loops > 25 mm, altered intestinal peristalsis, increased thickness of the bowel wall, and intraperitoneal fluid accumulation. Studies also reported that emergency physicians could apply this technique with limited and short-term ultrasound training. In this article, we aim to review the sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound examinations performed by emergency physicians in patients with suspected SBO.

Comments

Reproduced with permission of Hindawi Publishing Corp. Emergency Medicine International

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Peer Reviewed

1

Open Access

1

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