ULTRASOUND EVIDENCE OF RIB FRACTURES - A PILOT-STUDY

Since the diagnosis of rib fractures caused by blunt thoracic trauma i s often missed on X-ray, attempt have been made to detect unknown frac tures with ultrasound. Ultrasound was initially researched, as a diagn ostic technique in a preliminary study of 10 patients with known rib f ractures. Subsequently, in the main study, 21 patients with clinically suspected rib fractures but normal thoracic X-rays were examined with ultrasound, and rib fractures were detected in 16 patients. The diagn osis of rib fractures by ultrasound was substantiated by an increase o f activity in the technetium scintigram in 11 of 11 patients. We found further increases of activity in the scintigram in two more ribs in 7 of these 11 patients. This finding is explained by the presence of no ndislocated rib fractures that are veiled to ultrasound when a disconn ection of the rib's contour is missed during respiration. The diagnost ic procedure is explained with reference to case studies. In summary, findings recorded in this study showed that ultrasound investigation i s a more reliable method of diagnosis than X-rays examination.