Table 6 Section 3: Extended Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma (eFAST)
Key question: What significance does the eFAST examination have in the Emergency Trauma Room treatment of polytrauma patients? | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
No | Statement(s) | Cons | Grade | Cons |
3.1 | eFAST should be used as part of the Primary Survey | 100% strong | GoR A | 100% strong |
3.2 | eFAST should be implemented simultaneously with other measures, i.e. without additional expenditure of time for the overall care. If this is not possible, eFAST should not delay CT | 100% strong | GoR A | 100% strong |
Literature: detected = 699, excluded = 681, full-text: rated = 18, excluded = 6, included = 12 (guideline: [15, 19, 37,38,39]; level 1: [40]; level 2: [41, 42]; level 3: [43, 44]; level 4: [45]; level 5: [46]) | ||||
Comments: eFAST ought to be a screening for diagnostic findings requiring immediate treatment. With this meaning eFAST is a filter to (maybe temporarily) exclude (very few) patients from CT-scanning because of reasons where the time effort of CT is expected to lead to higher mortality. Such findings in unstable patients may be tension pneumothorax, pericardial tamponade, massive bleeding in the pleural or peritoneal spaces | ||||