Validation of indications for point-of-care of ultrasound in general practice based on international expert consensus: systematic literature review
Jeanne LANG and Camille LAVRIL
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in primary care is expanding, but the level of scientific evidence remains limited. In the absence of international guidelines, this systematic review relies on several expert consensus statements and identifies ten main indications: confirmation of early intrauterine pregnancy, cholecystitis, cholelithiasis, intra-abdominal fluid, hydronephrosis, bladder volume assessment, abdominal aortic aneurysm, deep vein thrombosis, pleural effusion, subcutaneous abscess or foreign body.To evaluate the scientific evidence available in the literature supporting the expert-based indications for POCUS in general practice.Systematic literature review following Cochrane methodology and PRISMA guidelines. The study was registred in PROSPERO. Searches were conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane databases, including studies assessing POCUS in general practice between 2015 and 2025. Two independent reviewers screened eligible articles, extracted data using a standardized form, and assessed study quality using ROBINS-I v2 and QUADAS-2 tools.Of the 2985 articles sorted by title and abstract, 2919 were excluded. Of the 66 articles selected for full text reading, 61 were excluded and 5 prospective diagnostic or interventional studies were included (two on deep vein thrombosis, one on abdominal aortic aneurysm, one on abdominopelvic ultrasound, one on cutaneous abscess). Reported sensitivity of POCUS ranged from 69% to 98% and specificity from 95% to 99%. Cohen’s kappa exceeded 0.80 in two studies. Three studies had a low risk of bias, while two showed high risk.The main strength of this study is that the selected articles concerned different countries, a large number of patients and are contemporary, which reinforces the external validity. The limit was due to the heterogeneity of the articles, which did not allow a meta-analysis to be made.Three high-quality studies confirm the reliability of POCUS for selected major indications in general practice. However, evidence remains limited for other applications. POCUS appears to be a promising tool in primary care, but further research is needed to strengthen the level of evidence.
