• Majid Zamani, Babak Masoumi, Mehrdad Esmailian, Amin Habibi, Mehdi Khazaei, and Mohammad Mohammadi Esfahani.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, IR Iran.
• Iran Red Crescent Med J. 2015 Dec 1; 17 (12): e20302.

BackgroundFocused assessment with sonography in trauma (FAST) is a method for prompt detection of the abdominal free fluid in patients with abdominal trauma.ObjectivesThis study was conducted to compare the diagnostic accuracy of FAST performed by emergency medicine residents (EMR) and radiology residents (RRs) in detecting peritoneal free fluids.Patients And MethodsPatients triaged in the emergency department with blunt abdominal trauma, high energy trauma, and multiple traumas underwent a FAST examination by EMRs and RRs with the same techniques to obtain the standard views. Ultrasound findings for free fluid in peritoneal cavity for each patient (positive/negative) were compared with the results of computed tomography, operative exploration, or observation as the final outcome.ResultsA total of 138 patients were included in the final analysis. Good diagnostic agreement was noted between the results of FAST scans performed by EMRs and RRs (κ = 0.701, P < 0.001), also between the results of EMRs-performed FAST and the final outcome (κ = 0.830, P < 0.0010), and finally between the results of RRs-performed FAST and final outcome (κ = 0.795, P < 0.001). No significant differences were noted between EMRs- and RRs-performed FASTs regarding sensitivity (84.6% vs 84.6%), specificity (98.4% vs 97.6%), positive predictive value (84.6% vs 84.6%), and negative predictive value (98.4% vs 98.4%).ConclusionsTrained EMRs like their fellow RRs have the ability to perform FAST scan with high diagnostic value in patients with blunt abdominal trauma.

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