{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,12]],"date-time":"2026-11-12T23:55:20Z","timestamp":1794527720479,"version":"4.9.1"},"reference-count":5,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]],"date-time":"2026-05-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779926400000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":27,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004690","name":"Minist\u00e8re de la Sant\u00e9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PHRC-N2024"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PHRC-N2024"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004690","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["BMJ Open"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,8]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,5]]},"abstract":"\n Introduction<\/jats:title>\n Abdominal pain is a common presentation in emergency departments. Among these cases, small bowel obstruction (SBO) is a common diagnosis. Diagnostic procedure is currently based on CT, an imaging modality associated with radiation exposure. Studies suggest good accuracy of point of care ultrasound (POCUS) for SBO. Through the OCCLUS-POCUS study, we aim to evaluate the POCUS ability to rule out SBO in patients with low to moderate clinical suspicion, thereby avoiding unnecessary CT scans.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods and analysis<\/jats:title>\n This prospective, observational and multicentre study will involve 15 French emergency departments. Eligible patients will be adults presenting with low or moderate suspicion of SBO (based on Gestalt clinical probability). Exclusion criteria will include prior imaging confirmed SBO, pregnancy or breastfeeding. POCUS will be performed by emergency physicians prior to CT scans, which serve as the diagnostic gold standard. The primary endpoint will be the negative predictive value (NPV) of POCUS for SBO. Secondary endpoints will include POCUS diagnostic accuracy, time intervals between POCUS and CT and factors associated with false-positive or false-negative results. Statistical analyses will estimate the NPV and other diagnostic parameters with 95% CIs. While CT remains the gold standard for diagnosing SBO, this study seeks to validate POCUS as a reliable method for ruling out SBO in low-risk cases, potentially reducing radiation exposure, costs and emergency department length of stay.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Ethics and dissemination<\/jats:title>\n Ethics approval was obtained from the relevant committee (V1.1 approved on 6 February 2025 by \u201cComit\u00e9 de Protection des Personnes Nord Ouest 2\u201d \u2013 SI24.05744.000388 \u2013 2024-A01942-45). Findings will be disseminated via an international Emergency Medicine journal.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Trial registration number<\/jats:title>\n \n ClinicalTrials.gov (\n NCT06803628<\/jats:ext-link>\n ).\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2025-113887","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]],"date-time":"2026-05-28T15:25:28Z","timestamp":1779981928000},"page":"e113887","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Contribution of point of care ultrasound for ruling out small bowel obstruction in emergency departments: study protocol of the diagnostic, observational, prospective and multicentre OCCLUS-POCUS study"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"16","clinical-trial-number":[{"clinical-trial-number":"nct06803628","registry":"10.18810\/clinical-trials-gov"}],"author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-7764-8162","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mathilde","family":"Papin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Service Des Urgences, CHU Nantes PHU 3 Urgences M\u00e9decines et Pr\u00e9vention, Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France"},{"name":"Facult\u00e9 de M\u00e9decine, Nantes Universite UFR Medecine et Techniques Medicales, Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Quentin","family":"Le Bastard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Service Des Urgences, CHU Nantes PHU 3 Urgences M\u00e9decines et Pr\u00e9vention, Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France"},{"name":"Facult\u00e9 de M\u00e9decine, Nantes Universite UFR Medecine et Techniques Medicales, Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ma\u00ebva","family":"Saignes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Service Des Urgences, CHU Nantes PHU 3 Urgences M\u00e9decines et Pr\u00e9vention, Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France"},{"name":"Direction de la Recherche et de l\u2019Innovation, CHU Nantes, Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aur\u00e9lie","family":"Le Thuaut","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Plateforme de M\u00e9thodologie et Biostatistique, Direction de la Recherche et de l\u2019Innovation, CHU Nantes, Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3309-6112","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Philippe","family":"Le Conte","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Service Des Urgences, CHU Nantes PHU 3 Urgences M\u00e9decines et Pr\u00e9vention, Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France"},{"name":"Facult\u00e9 de M\u00e9decine, Nantes Universite UFR Medecine et Techniques Medicales, Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026052808251836000_16.5.e113887.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jamcollsurg.2006.04.020"},{"key":"2026052808251836000_16.5.e113887.2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"144","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ajem.2023.05.039","article-title":"Multi-center analysis of point-of-care ultrasound for small bowel obstruction: A systematic review and individual patient-level meta-analysis","volume":"70","author":"Shokoohi","year":"2023","journal-title":"Am J Emerg Med"},{"key":"2026052808251836000_16.5.e113887.3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ajem.2017.07.085"},{"key":"2026052808251836000_16.5.e113887.4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"298","DOI":"10.1097\/MEJ.0000000000001030","article-title":"Abdominal point-of-care ultrasound for the exclusion of bowel obstruction: prospective multicentre observational study","volume":"30","author":"Amimer","year":"2023","journal-title":"Eur J Emerg Med"},{"key":"2026052808251836000_16.5.e113887.5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/acem.14464"}],"container-title":["BMJ Open"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.1136\/bmjopen-2025-113887","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]],"date-time":"2026-05-28T15:25:29Z","timestamp":1779981929000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/bmjopen.bmj.com\/lookup\/doi\/10.1136\/bmjopen-2025-113887"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,5]]},"references-count":5,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,5]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1136\/bmjopen-2025-113887"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/bmjopen-2025-113887","relation":{},"ISSN":["2044-6055","2044-6055"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2044-6055","type":"print"},{"value":"2044-6055","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,5]]}}}