Keywords:
Thorax, Emergency, Trauma, CT, Diagnostic procedure
Authors:
I. Turkalj, K. Petrovic; Novi Sad/RS
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2013/C-0040
Methods and Materials
The study was a prospective review of 61 patients (mean age 43.9 years) with blunt trauma who were treated in our clinical centre and who had received a CT scan of thorax as part of their initial assessment.
It should be emphasised that the patients got their CT examination report within clinically reasonable time,
independently of our study.
These CT examinations were recorded in the memory of the computer,
after which we evaluated the number of injuries by organs or organ systems of the chest.
The description thereof was carried out by entering each patient’s data separately into the protocol of the study.
These data included the following injuries: rib fracture,
vertebral fracture,
sternal fracture,
scapular fracture,
clavicular fracture,
subcutaneous emphysema,
chest wall haematoma,
pneumothorax,
pleural effusion,
lung injury,
pneumomediastinum,
mediastinal haematoma,
tracheobronchial rupture,
oesophageal injury,
aortic injury,
pneumopericardium,
pericardial effusion,
and diaphragmatic rupture.
After transferring or discharging the patient,
we assessed the cause and the time of the injury,
the length and the outcome of the treatment,
and the presence of injuries in other regions.
The description of numeric variables was performed using classical methods of descriptive statistics (arithmetic mean) and measures of variability (standard deviation,
minimum and maximum values).
Relative values were used in the tables.
Nonparametric analysis of variance (F) for the comparison of three or more groups of data was also used.
The value of p<0.05 was considered significant.
All CT studies were performed using Siemens 16 and 64-section MDCT (120 kV,
220 mAs/slice,
5 mm section thickness,
pitch of 1.4).
Approximately 1.2 milliliter of iodinated contrast agent (Ultravist 370 or Omnipaque 350) per kilogram of body mass was injected intravenously using a mechanical power injector at 2 mL/s. The volumetric MDCT data were reconstructed into axial and MPR 1-mm-thick sections.