Importance of the Left Upper Quadrant View in the FAST exam

The left upper quadrant view in the FAST (focused assessment with sonography for trauma) exam can be difficult to get just right. This paper examines how important it is in finding intraabdominal free fluid. The authors reviewed FAST exams to determine how often there is free fluid only in the left upper quadrant. Also, they looked to see which part of the left upper quadrant free fluid went to most often. Spoiler alert: its not the subphrenic space!