Abstract
The management of polytrauma is based on the principle that the care provided to trauma patients in the first few hours can be absolutely critical in terms of predicting long term recovery and that good trauma care involves getting the patient to right place in right time for the right treatment. Managing critically injured patients are challenging. It is very important to assess the overall severity in terms of site and extent of injury. Earlier radiographs, conventional CT scanners and focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) used to be very useful adjuncts in management of polytrauma. Nowadays with the advent of state of art multidetector CT (MDCT) scanners the scenario has improved. Most of the centers dealing with trauma have a clear protocol of MDCT for management. There are concerns regarding cost, radiation and whether “CT first protocol” should be employed. Here we review the role of MDCT in assessment of patients with polytrauma and its current status.
Highlights
Trauma is the leading cause of death in age group less than 45 years
Emergency CT plays a major role in diagnostic workflow in the evaluation of patients with polytrauma [1,2]
Role of multidetector CT (MDCT) in head trauma remains unparalleled for reasons like its widespread availability and capability to reveal skull fractures, primarily because it is a fast and efficient method to triage the patients with treatable conditions mandating urgent surgical intervention such as extra axial hematomas, mass effect, herniations of brain, hydrocephalus, and midline shift and preventing secondary brain injury
Summary
Trauma is the leading cause of death in age group less than 45 years. In trauma, time is one of the most crucial factors in predicting prognosis. Emergency CT plays a major role in diagnostic workflow in the evaluation of patients with polytrauma [1,2]. These patients usually have simultaneous injuries to several anatomic regions or organs [1,3]. MDCT scanners are widely used because they rapidly produce high-resolution scans of large areas, offering short examination times for multiple body regions under emergency conditions [3].
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