Accuracy of bedside emergency physician performed ultrasound in diagnosing different causes of acute abdominal pain: a prospective study.

OBJECTIVE

Abdominal pain is a common complaint in the emergency department and accurate diagnosis of its etiology may affect the patient's outcome.

METHOD: Patients with abdominal pain underwent ultrasound study first by trained emergency physicians and then by radiologists blinded to emergency physician's results.

RESULT: Emergency physician who performed bedside ultrasound had 78% diagnostic accuracy. Emergency physicians showed better results in diagnosing some entities (abdominal aortic aneurysm and renal stones) than the others (acute appendicitis, cholelithiasis, and cholecystitis).

CONCLUSION

Bedside ultrasound can accurately identify the etiology of acute nontraumatic abdominal pain in the hands of emergency physicians.