Improvement of Diagnostic Approach Using PoCUS for Right Upper Quadrant Abdominal Pain Management in the Emergency Department: A Prospective Study

Detailed Summary

Many medical specialties and paramedical fields are increasingly using point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS). In daily practice, abdominal pain accounts for 7% to 10% of emergency department consultations, while the mean reported prevalence of abdominal pain in family physician consultations is 2.8%. PoCUS can be used in a variety of ways during abdominal physical examinations, and most scientific societies encourage its use to address a specific clinical question rather than provide a diagnosis, which is usually confirmed by comprehensive ultrasound in radiology. The integration of PoCUS into clinical examination raises the issue of PoCUS accuracy to improve the diagnostic approach as opposed to PoCUS diagnostic accuracy itself. Considering the wide range of differential diagnoses associated with right upper quadrant pain, this multicenter prospective study protocol aims to evaluate the improvement of the diagnostic approach using PoCUS in patients presenting at an emergency department with right upper quadrant abdominal pain. In light of the final diagnosis at 1-month follow-up, two members of an adjudication committee will blindly choose between two case report forms: one filled in before PoCUS and the other completed after the use of PoCUS by the investigator in charge of a patient suffering from right upper quadrant abdominal pain. The hypothesis that PoCUS enhances diagnostic approaches by 18% will be reached if 74.8% of the better diagnostic approaches are in favor of the case report form filled in after PoCUS.

Study Details

Timeline

Interventions