We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress
Sign In
Advertise with Us
GLOBETECH PUBLISHING LLC

Download Mobile App




Chest X-Rays Miss Most Blunt Trauma Injuries

By MedImaging International staff writers
Posted on 15 Jul 2021
Print article
Image: Chest X-ray, the mainstay of trauma screening, misses many blunt injuries (Photo courtesy of Getty Images)
Image: Chest X-ray, the mainstay of trauma screening, misses many blunt injuries (Photo courtesy of Getty Images)
A new study suggests that when used alone, chest X-ray (CXR), without other trauma screening criteria, has poor screening performance for blunt thoracic injury.

For the study, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF, USA) conducted a secondary analysis of data from the NEXUS Chest CT study (held between August 2011 and May 2014 at nine urban level-1 trauma centers in the United States), which included a total of 4,501 participants who had been injured primarily in motor vehicle accidents and who received initial chest x-rays, followed by computerized tomography (CT scans). The injuries were categorized as clinically major or minor.

The results revealed that CXR missed blunt trauma injuries in 818 patients (54.7%), of which 7.7% were classified as major injuries. The most common missed major injuries were sternal fractures, spinal fractures, and aortic injuries, while the most common missed minor injuries were pericardial effusions, sternal fractures, and mediastinal hematomas. The study was published on June 19, 2021, in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.

“We do not suggest that the CXR should be completely abandoned in adult blunt trauma evaluation,” concluded study co-authors David Dillon, PhD, and Robert Rodriguez, MD. “The CXR is still useful for screening low risk trauma patients, and it is an essential component of our chest CT decision instrument, which safely guides selective chest CT utilization, with reductions of as many as 38% of chest CTs.”

CXR remains the main modality in screening and diagnosing thoracic injuries in trauma patients, used to visualize rib fractures, lung contusions, pneumothorax and hemothorax, emphysema, diaphragmatic and aortic injury, and fractures of the axial skeleton. It is common practice for a CXR taken in the emergency department to be assessed by the trauma team, and not by a trained radiologist.

Related Links:
University of California, San Francisco

Gold Member
Solid State Kv/Dose Multi-Sensor
AGMS-DM+
Laptop Ultrasound Scanner
PL-3018
MRI System
uMR 588
New
DR Flat Panel Detector
1500L

Print article

Channels

Nuclear Medicine

view channel
Image: The AI system uses scintigraphy imaging for early diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis (Photo courtesy of 123RF)

AI System Automatically and Reliably Detects Cardiac Amyloidosis Using Scintigraphy Imaging

Cardiac amyloidosis, a condition characterized by the buildup of abnormal protein deposits (amyloids) in the heart muscle, severely affects heart function and can lead to heart failure or death without... Read more

General/Advanced Imaging

view channel
Image: The Cinematic Reality app enables interaction with realistic renderings of human anatomy (Photo courtesy of Siemens)

AR Application Turns Medical Scans Into Holograms for Assistance in Surgical Planning

Siemens Healthineers (Erlangen, Germany) has launched an app designed for Apple Vision Pro that allows users including surgeons, medical students, or patients to view immersive, interactive holograms of... Read more

Imaging IT

view channel
Image: The new Medical Imaging Suite makes healthcare imaging data more accessible, interoperable and useful (Photo courtesy of Google Cloud)

New Google Cloud Medical Imaging Suite Makes Imaging Healthcare Data More Accessible

Medical imaging is a critical tool used to diagnose patients, and there are billions of medical images scanned globally each year. Imaging data accounts for about 90% of all healthcare data1 and, until... Read more

Industry News

view channel
Image: Samsung Medison CEO Mr. Yongkwan Kim and Bracco Imaging CEO Dr. Fulvio Renoldi Bracco endorsed a MoU agreement (Photo courtesy of Bracco Group)

Samsung and Bracco Enter Into New Diagnostic Ultrasound Technology Agreement

Samsung Medison (Seoul, South Korea) and Bracco Imaging (Milan, Italy) have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreement to pioneer a new area for diagnostic ultrasound devices and contrast agents.... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2024 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.