Narration
Rib Fracture
The last thing we’ll discuss in this module is the use of ultrasound to detect rib fracture. Ultrasound is going to be more sensitive than chest x ray for detecting this.
What you do is simply find the cortex of the rib and follow it to the point where it tends to be most tender, and if you see a discontinuity in the rib that tells you that there is a fracture and this is showing a rib fracture on the left with the face of the linear probe lined up along the rib and there is that discontinuity or fracture that’s seen, and really in minor trauma to the chest I don’t even get a chest x ray I simply do an ultrasound and make sure there is no pneumothorax or effusion and look to see if I can see an actual rib fracture.