Radiation Exposure From Diagnostic Imaging in Severely Injured Trauma Patients

Doppler ultrasound for the assessment of conservatively treated blunt splenic injuries: a prospective study

INTRODUCTION

The type and need for follow-up of non-operatively managed blunt splenic injuries remain controversial. The use of Doppler ultrasound to identify post-traumatic splenic pseudoaneurysms, considered to be the main cause of "delayed" splenic rupture, has not been well described.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A 5-year prospective study was performed from 2004 to 2008. All patients with blunt splenic injury diagnosed with computerized tomography, who were treated non-operatively, were included in the study. Doppler ultrasound examination was performed 24-48 h post-injury. Consecutive Doppler ultrasound examinations were done on 7, 14 and 21 days post-injury for patients diagnosed with a splenic pseudoaneurysm. Demographic and clinical data were collected. Ambulatory follow-up continued for 4 weeks after hospital discharge.

RESULTS

A total of 38 patients were enrolled in the study. Grading of splenic injury demonstrated 19 (50%) patients with Grade I, 16 (42%) with Grade II and 3 (8%) with Grade III injuries. Two patients (5%) had pseudoaneurysms. All pseudoaneurysms underwent complete resolution within 2 weeks after diagnosis. No patients received blood products, or had angio-embolization or surgery during the study period. All patients were found to be asymptomatic and stable at the 4-week follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

Doppler ultrasound can be an effective and a safe noninvasive modality for evaluation and follow-up of patients with blunt splenic injury. The utility and cost-effectiveness of routine surveillance requires further study.

Trauma management incorporating focused assessment with computed tomography in trauma (FACTT) - potential effect on survival

Background

Immediate recognition of life-threatening conditions and injuries is the key to trauma management. To date, the impact of focused assessment with computed tomography in trauma (FACTT) has not been formally assessed. We aimed to find out whether the concept of using FACTT during primary trauma survey has a negative or positive effect on survival.

Methods

In a retrospective, multicentre study, we compared our time management and probability of survival (Ps) in major trauma patients who received FACTT during trauma resuscitation with the trauma registry of the German Trauma Society (DGU). FACTT is defined as whole-body computed tomography (WBCT) during primary trauma survey. We determined the probability of survival according to the Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS), the Revised Injury Severity Classification score (RISC) and the standardized mortality ratio (SMR).

Results

We analysed 4.817 patients from the DGU database from 2002 until 2004, 160 (3.3%) were from our trauma centre at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) and 4.657 (96.7%) from the DGU group. 73.2% were male with a mean age of 42.5 years, a mean ISS of 29.8. 96.2% had suffered from blunt trauma. Time from admission to FAST (focused assessment with sonography for trauma)(4.3 vs. 8.7 min), chest x-ray (8.1 vs. 16.0 min) and whole-body CT (20.7 vs. 36.6 min) was shorter at the LMU compared to the other trauma centres (p < 0.001). SMR calculated by TRISS was 0.74 (CI95% 0.40-1.08) for the LMU (p = 0.24) and 0.92 (CI95% 0.84-1.01) for the DGU group (p = 0.10). RISC methodology revealed a SMR of 0.69 (95%CI 0.47-0.92) for the LMU (p = 0.043) and 1.00 (95%CI 0.94-1.06) for the DGU group (p = 0.88).

Conclusion

Trauma management incorporating FACTT enhances a rapid response to life-threatening problems and enables a comprehensive assessment of the severity of each relevant injury. Due to its speed and accuracy, FACTT during primary trauma survey supports rapid decision-making and may increase survival.

Is sonography reliable for the diagnosis of pediatric blunt abdominal trauma?

BACKGROUND

Computerized tomography (CT) is considered as the imaging study of choice for blunt abdominal trauma in children. Nevertheless, recent investigations clearly indicate an increased risk of cancer in children exposed to radiation during abdominal spiral CT. Therefore, alternative strategies should be used for the diagnosis and surgical decision making in blunt abdominal trauma in children.

METHODS

Retrospective analysis included all children with intraabdominal organ rupture after blunt abdominal trauma. Patients were diagnosed by a standardized emergency protocol that included primary clinical assessment and repeated ultrasound but not routine CT. Efficacy of abdominal ultrasound was evaluated in regard to safe diagnosis and appropriate surgical decision making.

RESULTS

The study included 35 children with intraabdominal organ rupture diagnosed by ultrasound. One fifth (7/35) of the patients were polytraumatized, whereas 28 of 35 had an isolated blunt abdominal trauma. All patients underwent immediate ultrasound scanning of the abdomen and retroperitoneal space. Two patients were immediately operated because of hemodynamically instability. Four of 7 polytraumatized patients and 7 of 28 patients with isolated blunt abdominal trauma were additionally diagnosed by spiral CT. Only 1 patient underwent subsequent surgery because of the findings in the CT. Ultrasound was effective in more than 97% (34/35) of the patients for diagnosis and appropriate surgical decision making.

CONCLUSION

Ultrasound combined with clinical assessment presents an effective method for safe diagnosis and appropriate surgical decision making in pediatric blunt abdominal trauma. Selected cases with polytrauma and/or unequivocal findings in the ultrasound should undergo abdominal CT. Patients requiring abdominal CT should have an anticipated benefit that exceeds the radiation risk. The importance of repeated clinical assessment cannot be overstated.

Primary pan-computed tomography for blunt multiple trauma: can the whole be better than its parts?

Single-pass, whole-body computed tomography (pan-CT) was proposed in the late 1990s as a new concept for the diagnostic work-up of severely injured patients. Since its introduction, it has led to considerable debate among clinicians and scientists, triggered by concerns about its immediate safety, questionable therapeutic advantages and exposure to radiation. However, it was recently shown that pan-CT scanning may be associated with a reduction in trauma mortality. In this article, we provide an overview of current knowledge of the value of this compelling concept. The diagnostic accuracy of multidetector row CT (MDCT) for clearing various anatomical regions in trauma patients is, at best, unclear. Little is known about the accuracy of pan-CT as a whole, which weakens statements about its effectiveness and prevents inferences about survival advantages. This last point may be explained by a stage-migration or "Will Rogers" phenomenon: Pan-CT increases injury severity by detecting lesions that would not have been recognized by conventional methods but still do not affect treatment decisions, thus artificially lowering the ratio of observed to expected deaths. In order to maintain the credibility of pan-CT technology for trauma, a rigorous, large-scale evaluation of its accuracy is required. Such an evaluation requires consensus about the definition of true and false positive and negative findings in the setting of blunt multiple trauma. In addition, triage criteria need to be refined to increase specificity and reduce the number of unnecessary scans.

CT Imaging in Motorcycle Collision Victims: Routine or Selective?

With improving accuracy and efficiency of CT, some trauma centers have used a low threshold for the use of CT scans in the evaluation and assessment of trauma patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic benefits of liberal CT scanning in multisystem blunt trauma motorcycle accident victims. The trauma registry at our community-based Level II center was accessed to identify consecutive motorcycle accident victims within a 55-month period who: 1) were evaluated on presentation by an attending trauma surgeon; and 2) underwent a head, cervical spine, chest, abdomen, or pelvis CT scan or any combination as part of their initial assessment. For those patients with clinically significant findings identified on CT, the percentage of those with negative clinical examinations was calculated. We found that 48, 77, 47, and 69 per cent of patients with clinically significant findings on head, cervical spine, thoracic, and abdominal CT, respectively, had normal clinical examinations. Our data suggest lower thresholds for CT use in the evaluation of patients sustaining multisystem blunt trauma should be adopted, even in the face of normal clinical examinations. This is especially true for the neck and abdominal regions.

Effect of whole-body CT during trauma resuscitation on survival: a retrospective, multicentre study

BACKGROUND

The number of trauma centres using whole-body CT for early assessment of primary trauma is increasing. There is no evidence to suggest that use of whole-body CT has any effect on the outcome of patients with major trauma. We therefore compared the probability of survival in patients with blunt trauma who had whole-body CT during resuscitation with those who had not.

METHODS

In a retrospective, multicentre study, we used the data recorded in the trauma registry of the German Trauma Society to calculate the probability of survival according to the trauma and injury severity score (TRISS), revised injury severity classification (RISC) score, and standardised mortality ratio (SMR, ratio of recorded to expected mortality) for 4621 patients with blunt trauma given whole-body or non-whole-body CT.

FINDINGS

1494 (32%) of 4621 patients were given whole-body CT. Mean age was 42.6 years (SD 20.7), 3364 (73%) were men, and mean injury-severity score was 29.7 (13.0). SMR based on TRISS was 0.745 (95% CI 0.633-0.859) for patients given whole-body CT versus 1.023 (0.909-1.137) for those given non-whole-body CT (p<0.001). SMR based on the RISC score was 0.865 (0.774-0.956) for patients given whole-body CT versus 1.034 (0.959-1.109) for those given non-whole-body CT (p=0.017). The relative reduction in mortality based on TRISS was 25% (14-37) versus 13% (4-23) based on RISC score. Multivariate adjustment for hospital level, year of trauma, and potential centre effects confirmed that whole-body CT is an independent predictor for survival (p </= 0.002). The number needed to scan was 17 based on TRISS and 32 based on RISC calculation.

INTERPRETATION

Integration of whole-body CT into early trauma care significantly increased the probability of survival in patients with polytrauma. Whole-body CT is recommended as a standard diagnostic method during the early resuscitation phase for patients with polytrauma.

FUNDING

None.

Comparing processes of pediatric trauma care at children's hospitals versus adult hospitals

Comparing treatment of pediatric injury by hospital type or physician expertise has often created more controversy than conformity. Three key components that help define quality of care include infrastructure, process, and outcome. This report highlights studies that compared processes of care by physician and hospital expertise with regard to injured children. During the past 15 years, numerous studies have compared both hospital and physician expertise in the processes of pediatric trauma care. From these studies, it is clear that evaluation of processes of care is equally important as evaluating outcome, especially when mortality is the outcome variable. Future studies should examine other aspects of care in addition to surgical processes that might impact either rates of complications or long-term outcomes.

Emergency department evaluation and management of blunt abdominal trauma in children

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

To discuss the emergency department evaluation and management of children with blunt abdominal trauma. The review will focus on both the clinical data that can help reduce the use of computed tomography in the evaluation of patients with blunt abdominal trauma and the evidence for the increased use of nonoperative management of patients with blunt abdominal trauma.

RECENT FINDINGS

We will examine the recent literature focusing on the utility of physical examination, laboratory data and imaging (both ultrasonography and computed tomography) in detecting intraabdominal injury.

SUMMARY

Recent research suggests that physical examination in combination with bedside ultrasonography may identify children at risk for intraabdominal injury. Screening laboratory data appears to be less sensitive to detect these injuries, but is useful in selected patients. Nonoperative management is appropriate in a majority of cases. Further research is needed to determine which low-risk patients with abdominal trauma can be managed with minimal or no exposure to radiation in the computed tomography scanner.