• Michalle Soudack, Monica Epelman, Roni Maor, Lili Hayari, Gideon Shoshani, Asnat Heyman-Reiss, Moshe Michaelson, and Diana Gaitini.
• Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Rambam Medical Center and Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Ha'aliya Hashnia 8, Bat Galim, Haifa 31096, Israel.
• J Clin Ultrasound. 2004 Feb 1;32(2):53-61.

PurposeThe use of focused abdominal sonography for trauma (FAST), which detects free fluid in the abdomen and pelvis, for the assessment of blunt abdominal trauma is gaining acceptance worldwide and has been described extensively in the general medical literature. The precise application of this technique in pediatric patients, however, has yet to be established. The aim of this study was to assess the utility of FAST in pediatric trauma patients by comparing the results of this technique with those of CT and explorative laparotomy (ELAP).MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the medical records and sonographic examinations of pediatric patients who had sustained multiple traumatic injuries for which they were treated at our hospital during a 20-month period. For all patients, FAST had been the initial screening examination for blunt abdominal trauma. We compared the FAST findings, which had been recorded as positive or negative, with the findings on CT or ELAP, which were considered definitive.ResultsA total of 313 patients (204 boys and 109 girls) with a mean age of 7.1 years were included in the study. The FAST finding had been negative in 274 patients, of whom 201 had had no clinical signs of abdominal injury and had been managed conservatively without complications. CT had been performed in 109 patients and ELAP in 11. FAST had yielded 3 false-negative and 2 false-positive results. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of FAST were 92.5%, 97.2%, and 95.5%, respectively.ConclusionsFAST is an effective tool in screening pediatric trauma patients for blunt abdominal trauma.Copyright 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound 32:53-61, 2004

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