Diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography in the assessment of facial fractures

Objective: To assess the diagnostic accuracy of Ultrasonography (USG) in diagnosing superficial facial fractures. Material and Methods: Patients visiting our facility with facial trauma and suspected fracture of the facial skeleton, those who had undergone CT scans, and conventional radiographic examinations and those who were conscious and cooperative were included in the study. All conventional radiographs, CT scans and ultrasound examinations were done during 0-20 days after trauma in all the patients. Results: A total of 20 patients participated in our study, out of which 18 were male (90%) with a mean age of 34.4 years (range of 19-75 years). Eleven sites of the face were examined bilaterally in each patient, i.e., a total of 440 sites. Of these, 84 sites were found to be fractured according to the CT scan examination whereas conventional radiographs detected 59 and ultrasonography detected 74 fractures (of which 70 were true fractures, while 4 were false-positive results). The sensitivity and specificity of USG in all fracture sites were 83.33% and 98.88% respectively. The positive and negative predictive values were 94.59% and 96.17% respectively. Conclusion: Ultrasound examination had a better sensitivity when compared to conventional radiography in detecting superficial facial fractures.