Ultrasound diagnosis of fractures in mass casualty incidents

The role of point-of-care ultrasound in mass casualty incidents (MCIs) is still evolving. Occasionally, hospitals can be destroyed by disasters resulting in large number of trauma patients. CAVEAT and FASTER ultrasound protocols, which are used in MCIs, included extremity ultrasound examination as part of them. The literature supports the use of ultrasound in diagnosing extremity fractures both in hospitals and MCIs. The most recent systematic review which was reported by Douma-den Hamer et al in 2016 showed that the pooled ultrasound sensitivity and specificity for detecting distal forearm fractures was 97% and 95% respectively. Nevertheless, majority of these studies were in children and they had very high heterogeneity. The portability, safety, repeatability, and cost-effectiveness of ultrasound are great advantages when treating multiply injured patients in MCIs. Its potential in managing fractures in MCIs needs to be further defined. The operator should master the technique, understand its limitations, and most importantly correlate the sonographic findings with the clinical ones to be useful. This editorial critically reviews the literature on this topic, describes its principles and techniques, and includes the author’s personal learned lessons so that trauma surgeons will be encouraged to use ultrasound to diagnose fractures in their own clinical practice.