Comparison of Ultrasonography and Conventional Radiography in the Diagnosis of Nasal Bone Fractures p. 7-11

Background/ We evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography and conventional radiography compared to clinical examination as the gold-standard technique to determine whether ultrasonography can be the primary diagnostic method for the evaluation of nasal bone fracture.Patients and The conventional Waters and lateral nasal bone view radiography and high resolution ultrasonography of 171 patients (128 men, 43 women; mean±SD age, 24±8 years) with a clinical or forensic indication for the evaluation of nasal bone fracture wereinvestigated. The negative likelihood ratio (LR-), positive likelihood ratio (LR+), specificity (Sp) and sensitivity (Se) were used for determining the diagnostic accuracy. The negative predictive value (NPV) and the positive predictive value (PPV) were also determined. Of 103 fracture lines in patients with a clinically diagnosed nasal bone fracture, conventional radiography detected 80, while ultrasonography detected 90 fractures. The Se of ultrasonography and conventional radiography was 90.2% and 77.6%, respectively; the Sp was 98.5% and 82%, respectively. High-resolution ultrasonography can be used as an accurate technique for evaluating nasal bone fracture. Conventional radiography can be replaced by high-resolution ultrasonograhy.