FAST Exam – Part 2
The FAST exam is used to detect the presence of blood in the peritoneal (abdominal) and pericardial (space around the heart) cavities. The complete exam can be done by an experienced examiner in seconds to 1 minute.
By convention, the exam looks at four areas of the body – the pericardium, Morison’s pouch (the areas between the lower edge of the liver and the right kidney), the splenorenal recess (the space beneath the spleen and above the left kidney), and the pelvis. It is important to do the pelvis part of the FAST exam before the Foley catheter has been placed into the bladder to avoid decompression of the bladder and obstruction of the best acoustic window.
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