RT Book, Section
A1 Reichman, Eric F.
SR Print(0)
ID 57700446
T1 Chapter 5. Trauma Ultrasound: The FAST Exam
T2 Emergency Medicine Procedures, 2e
YR 2013
FD 2013
PB The McGraw-Hill Companies
PP New York, NY
SN 978-0-07-161352-1
LK accessemergencymedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=57700446
RD 2024/04/20
AB Evaluation  of  blunt  trauma  patients  with  ultrasound  (US)  has  been  described  for  over  30  years.1,2  Its  use  in  the  United  States  in  the  early  assessment  of  blunt  abdominal  trauma  patients  rapidly  increased  in  the  1990s.1  It  is  currently  taught  as  an  adjunct  to  the  secondary  survey  in  the  Advanced  Trauma  Life  Support  (ATLS)  course.1,3  US  evaluation  of  the  trauma  patients  decreases  the  time  to  operative  care,  resource  utilization,  and  the  costs  of  blunt  trauma  patients.4,5  The  focused  assessment  with  sonography  in  trauma  exam,  also  known  as  the  FAST  exam,  can  be  completed  within  5  minutes.1  It  has  essentially  replaced  the  need  for  a  diagnostic  peritoneal  lavage  in  the  initial  assessment  of  all  but  a  few  trauma  patients.6,7  This  chapter  reviews  the  technique  and  interpretation  of  the  FAST  exam.