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PoCUS Impact on the Diagnostic Approach for Thoracic and Abdominal Pain in the ED

NCT06827730 · Status: RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 406

Last updated 2026-04-30

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Many medical specialties and paramedical fields are increasingly using point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS). In daily practice, thoracic and abdominal pain constitute a significant portion of emergency department consultations. PoCUS can be employed in various ways during thoracic and abdominal physical examinations. Most scientific societies advocate for its use to address specific clinical questions rather than to provide a definitive diagnosis.

The integration of PoCUS into clinical examinations raises the question of its effectiveness in improving the diagnostic approach, rather than its diagnostic accuracy alone. Given the broad spectrum of differential diagnoses for thoracic and abdominal pain, this multicenter prospective study protocol aims to evaluate how PoCUS enhances the diagnostic approach for patients presenting with these symptoms in the emergency department.

To assess the contribution of PoCUS, three members of an adjudication committee will blindly choose between two case report forms reporting the planned diagnostic approach for each patient: one completed before PoCUS and the other after its use by the investigator handling the case. The hypothesis that PoCUS improves the diagnostic approach by 60% will be reached if 60% of the improved diagnostic approaches favor the case report form filled out after PoCUS.

Conditions

Interventions

DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

Point of care ultrasound

The investigator uses PoCUS to investigate thoracic or abdominal pain after anamnesis and clinical examination. The investigator reports the anamnesis, clinical examination, and PoCUS results in the patient's medical file. PoCUS images are recorded according to the procedures of the study centers and the capacities of the ultrasound machines.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • APHP

    collaborator OTHER

  • Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc- Université Catholique de Louvain

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Florence MV Dupriez, MD, PhD · Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc- Université Catholique de Louvain

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
DIAGNOSTIC
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2025-06-01
Primary Completion
2028-06-01
Completion
2029-06-01

Countries

  • Belgium

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT06827730 on ClinicalTrials.gov