The Focused Assessment With Sonography For Trauma (FAST) Examination And Pelvic Trauma: Indications And Limitations

Abstract

Pelvic trauma accounts for only 3% of all skeletal injuries but may have mortality as high as 45% in cases of severe trauma. Significant high-grade-mechanism trauma to the pelvis must always take the abdomen into consideration for evaluation. The focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) examination has been shown to be a valuable tool in assessing the unstable trauma patient with blunt abdominal injury, though its diagnostic utility is much less well-defined than in primary pelvic trauma. This systematic review explores the utility and limitations of the FAST examination in patients with blunt pelvic trauma and discusses the timing for the examination during the trauma survey. Newer techniques for emergency department management of the unstable trauma patient are also addressed.