Five years experience of using ultraportable sonography for urological emergencies

Abstract EN

This study aimed to evaluate the use of ultraportable sonography in the emergency department for urological emergency conditions by one urosurgeon.

The results were compared to the final diagnosis after performing a second sonography, computed tomography and cystoscopy so to calculate the specificity and sensitivity of this test and outline its advantages and disadvantages for the emergency department and the examining urologist.

This prospective study was done between 2010 and 2015.

A 217 patients with either flank pain or hematuria were included.

An ultraportable sonography was used to examine all patients at the emergency department and the results were compared to the final diagnosis after evaluating those patients with another ultrasound, contrast study, computed tomography and cystoscopy.

The statistical analysis of the results showed a very high sensitivity of 97%, with a specificity of 75%, the false positive ratio was 25% which is high but the false negative result rate is 3.0% which was low, there was a high predictive value of 98% for positive, and only 66.7% for negative with a likelihood ratio of 3.881 for positive results.

In conclusion, ultraportable sonography can be used with high efficacy and accuracy in emergency urological conditions, it carry a lot of satisfaction for both the patient and the physician, it can improve patient management by reducing the time needed for diagnosing and assessing the patient condition.

It is strongly recommend for primarily use in the emergency department.