Distal forearm fractures can be reliably diagnosed using ultrasound

In patients with possible distal forearm fracture, is ultrasound scanning a reliable method of diagnosis when compared with X-ray? Design : Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data source : Medline, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library. Study inclusion criteria : Comparison of ultrasound and X-ray in patients with potential distal forearm fractures; written in English, French, German or Spanish language. A total of 16 studies involving 1204 patients with 641 fractures were included. Twelve studies involving 951 patients looked specifically at children. Included studies all used X-ray as their ‘gold standard’ for diagnosing fractures and compared ultrasound to this. Most studies …