RT Book, Section
A1 Mainis, Leann
A1 Ramirez, René
A2 Reichman, Eric F.
SR Print(0)
ID 1159799826
T1 Diagnostic Peritoneal Lavage
T2 Reichman's Emergency Medicine Procedures, 3e
YR 2018
FD 2018
PB McGraw-Hill Education
PP New York, NY
SN 9781259861925
LK accessemergencymedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1159799826
RD 2024/04/20
AB The  diagnostic  peritoneal  lavage  (DPL)  was  first  described  in  1965  by  Dr.  Root  who  developed  a  method  for  sampling  the  peritoneal  cavity  to  more  rapidly  determine  the  presence  of  hemoperitoneum  after  trauma.1  The  initial  physical  examination  can  be  misleading  in  up  to  45%  of  blunt  trauma  patients,  and  DPL  can  be  useful  in  diagnosing  intraabdominal  injury  in  a  timely  fashion.2-4  DPL  is  performed  less  frequently  due  to  the  use  of  focused  abdominal  sonography  for  trauma  (FAST)  bedside  ultrasound  (US)  scanning  and  helical  computed  tomography  (CT).5,6  DPL  is  the  only  invasive  test  of  the  three  and  remains  a  highly  sensitive  test  for  mesenteric  and  hollow  viscus  injuries.4,7,8  The  main  disadvantages  of  DPL  are  that  it  gives  no  information  about  the  specific  organ  injured  and  a  positive  DPL  requires  an  invasive  procedure  in  the  Operating  Room  versus  conservative  management  and  observation.  The  overall  use  of  DPL  is  declining  with  the  progression  of  advanced  CT  scanning,  repeat/serial  FAST  exams,  and  the  increased  availability  of  these  modalities.3,5,9