Journal of Advances in Medicine and Medical Research

Background: The leading cause of death in the first 4 decades of life is trauma, and it remains a serious public health concern in all countries, whether rural or urban areas. While in Egypt damage is several times higher because of misclassification and under-reporting. The aim of this research was to compare between POCUS and other traditional imaging (x-ray, CT) in diagnosis of shock following blunt polytrauma patients and evaluate RUSH protocol in diagnosis of shock and follow up.

Methods: This prospective research was conducted on 100 patients aged from 18 to 65 years old, with blunt polytrauma presented with shock and hypotension. All patients underwent full history taking, and radiological investigations when needed, clinical examination according to Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS), management was consisted of primary and secondary survey, routine laboratory investigations and RUSH assessment for trauma.

Results: Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, respiration rate and heart rate were significant clinical predictors of shock. The time taken by RUSH protocol to assess shock was significantly lower compared to the time taken by Pan-CT and X- rays (P < 0.0001).

Conclusions: This study has focused on the point-of-care ultrasound (RUSH protocol) role for the early identification of the causes of shock in the department of emergency medicine. Diagnosis made by RUSH protocol is strongly agree with right medical diagnosis. It demonstrates the high efficacy of (RUSH protocol) in detecting and classifying distinct types of shock aetiology with high accuracy.