Background In patients undergoing resuscitative thoracotomy (RT) for traumatic cardiac arrest, focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) is often used to look for intraperitoneal fluid. These findings can help determine whether abdominal exploration is warranted once return of spontaneous circulation is achieved; however, the diagnostic accuracy of FAST in this clinical scenario has yet to be evaluated. The purpose of this study was to assess the performance of FAST in identifying intra-abdominal hemorrhage following RT. Methods We performed a 3-year retrospective study at a high-volume level 1 trauma center from 2014 to 2016. We included patients who underwent RT in the Emergency Department. All FAST examinations were performed by nonradiologists. Operative findings, computed tomography reports, diagnostic peritoneal aspirate (DPA) results, and autopsy findings were used as reference standards to calculate the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy of the FAST. Results A total of 158 patients met our inclusion criteria. The median age was 35 years (interquartile range [IQR]: 23-53), 86.1% were male, and 60.1% sustained blunt trauma. Most patients suffered severe injuries with a median injury severity score of 27 (IQR: 18-38). The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and accuracy of FAST for identifying intra-abdominal hemorrhage were 66.0%, 84.8%, 68.6%, 83.2%, and 78.5%, respectively. Among the 107 patients with a negative FAST, 22 (20.6%) underwent DPA, which was positive in 5 patients. Conclusions FAST can be utilized in the diagnostic workup of trauma patients after RT. In patients with a positive FAST, exploratory laparotomy is warranted, whereas other diagnostic adjuncts such as DPA or mandatory abdominal exploration may be considered in patients with a negative FAST.

Background The use of Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma (FAST) in combination with computed tomography (CT) has become the mainstay of diagnostic workup in patients with suspected intraabdominal hemorrhage (IAH). However, diagnostic peritoneal aspirate (DPA) can be an important adjunct in hemodynamically unstable patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the utility and diagnostic accuracy of DPA in detecting IAH. Methods Retrospective analysis of all patients who presented to the LAC+USC Medical Center and underwent evaluation with DPA between January 2010 and December 2016. Intraoperative, CT, and autopsy findings were used as gold standards in determining the diagnostic accuracy of DPA for the detection of IAH. Results A total of 73 consecutive patients were included in the study. The median age was 42 years (interquartile range [IQR]: 25-56), median injury severity score was 29 (IQR: 21-41), and 82.2% sustained blunt trauma. The most common indications for DPA were hemodynamically unstable patients with suspected IAH and patients with return of spontaneous circulation following resuscitative thoracotomy. Overall, the positive and negative predictive values of DPA were 89.4% and 88.9%, respectively. In 14 cases (19.2%), DPA correctly identified false positive/negative FAST results. Conclusion Our data suggest that DPA has high diagnostic yield for IAH. The use of DPA should be considered in unstable patients with inconclusive FAST results who cannot safely be evaluated with CT.