{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,12]],"date-time":"2026-08-12T04:52:29Z","timestamp":1786510349622,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,26]],"date-time":"2023-03-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1679788800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Diagnostics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>There is increasing recognition that point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), performed by the clinician at the bedside, can be a natural extension of the clinical examination\u2014the modern abdominal \u201cstethoscope\u201d and provides an opportunity to expedite the care pathway for patients with acute gallbladder disease. The primary aims of this study were to benchmark the accuracy of surgeon-performed POCUS in suspected acute gallbladder disease against standard radiology or pathology reports and to compare time to POCUS diagnosis with time to definitive imaging. This prospective single-arm observational cohort study was conducted in four hospitals in Ireland, Italy, and Portugal to assess the accuracy of POCUS against standard radiology in patients with suspected acute biliary disease (ClinicalTrials.govIdentifier: NCT02682368). The findings of surgeon-performed POCUS were compared with those on definitive imaging or surgery. Of 100 patients recruited, 89 were suitable for comparative analysis, comparing POCUS with radiological findings in 84 patients and with surgical\/histological findings in five. The overall global accuracy of POCUS was 88.7% (95% CI, 80.3\u201394.4%), with a sensitivity of 94.7% (95% CI, 85.3\u201398.9%), a specificity of 78.1% (95% CI, 60.03\u201390.7%), a positive likelihood ratio (LR+) of 4.33 and negative likelihood ratio (LR) of 0.07. The mean time from POCUS to the final radiological report was 11.9 h (range 0.06\u201354.9). In five patients admitted directly to surgery, the mean time between POCUS and incision was 2.30 h (range 1.5\u20135), which was significantly shorter than the mean time to formal radiology report. Sixteen patients were discharged from the emergency department, of whom nine did not need follow-up. Our study is one of the very few to demonstrate a high concordance between surgeon-performed POCUS of patients without a priori radiologic diagnosis of gallstone disease and shows that the expedited diagnosis afforded by POCUS can be reliably leveraged to deliver earlier definitive care for patients with acute gallbladder pathology, as the general surgeon skilled in POCUS is uniquely positioned to integrate it into their bedside assessment.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/diagnostics13071248","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,27]],"date-time":"2023-03-27T01:38:36Z","timestamp":1679881116000},"page":"1248","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["The Accuracy of Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) in Acute Gallbladder Disease"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4587-8792","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bogdan-Daniel","family":"Dumbrava","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, D02 YN77 Dublin, Ireland"},{"name":"Department of Surgery, Ponderas Academic Hospital, 014142 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gary Alan","family":"Bass","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, D02 YN77 Dublin, Ireland"},{"name":"Division of Traumatology, Emergency Surgery & Surgical Critical Care, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6469-2382","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Amro","family":"Jumean","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Medical University of Bahrain, Busaiteen 15503, Bahrain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6525-0946","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nuha","family":"Birido","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Medical University of Bahrain, Busaiteen 15503, Bahrain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Martin","family":"Corbally","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Medical University of Bahrain, Busaiteen 15503, Bahrain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jorge","family":"Pereira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, Tondela-Viseu Hospital Center, Av. Rei Dom Duarte, 3504-509 Viseu, Portugal"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alan","family":"Biloslavo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, Cattinara University Hospital, Strada di Fiume 447, 34149 Trieste, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mauro","family":"Zago","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, Policlinico San Pietro, Via Carlo Forlanini 15, 24036 Ponte San Pietro, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1600-8029","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thomas Noel","family":"Walsh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, D02 YN77 Dublin, Ireland"},{"name":"Department of Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Medical University of Bahrain, Busaiteen 15503, Bahrain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e000164","DOI":"10.1136\/tsaco-2018-000164","article-title":"Point-of-care biliary ultrasound in the emergency department (BUSED): Implications for surgical referral and emergency department wait times","volume":"3","author":"Hilsden","year":"2018","journal-title":"Trauma Surg. 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Surg."}],"container-title":["Diagnostics"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2075-4418\/13\/7\/1248\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T19:03:36Z","timestamp":1760123016000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2075-4418\/13\/7\/1248"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,26]]},"references-count":31,"journal-issue":{"issue":"7","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,4]]}},"alternative-id":["diagnostics13071248"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/diagnostics13071248","relation":{},"ISSN":["2075-4418"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2075-4418","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,26]]}}}