US Guided Versus BlindI&D for Treatment of Soft Tissue Abscesses in the ED

Standard treatment for a soft tissue abscess involves incision over the area of maximum fluctuance with drainage of purulence from the abscess cavity. The use of bedside ultrasound to guide this drainage has the potential to improve treatment outcomes by ensuring complete drainage of the cavity. Our hypothesis is that the use of ultrasound for guidance of incision and drainage of soft tissue abscesses will decrease treatment failure rate compared to standard blind incision and drainage. This hypothesis will be tested utilizing a blinded, randomized trial comparing standard incision and drainage to ultrasound guided incision and drainage.