Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Despite advances in trauma care, significant morbidity and mortality exists which could be reduced if all injuries were immediately identified. Two treatable factors are hypoxia and hypovolaemia which may occur secondary to haemorrhage into the chest and abdomen. Pneumothorax is also a frequent cause of preventable trauma death. Clinical examination is limited and we often rely on imaging. Anecdotally, it seemed some patients were investigated too quickly because their injuries had not evolved sufficiently enough to become detectable. In these patients, repeated assessments and imaging would, therefore, be necessary. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective study looking at all patients over a 15-month period with significant chest and abdominal injuries. Patients with a chest or abdominal Abbreviated Injury Score (AIS) of 3 or above were identified. As a cross reference, those patients who required at least one chest drain, or a laparotomy within 24 h of admission were also identified. Case notes and films were reviewed with particular attention to the presence of initial 'normal' imaging. RESULTS: A total of 1036 patients were eligible for entry into the trauma database; of these, 170 patients had chest and/or abdominal injuries coded as AIS 3 or more. We were able to identify 7 cases (4%) where initial clinical examination and imaging failed to detect either bleeding (pleural space or abdomen) or a pneumothorax. A further 5 cases were potential missed injuries, but the data were incomplete making confident inclusion in this group impossible. CONCLUSIONS: Occult injuries are reported to have an incidence of around 2-5%. Serial imaging in the resuscitation room may enable early identification of chest and abdominal injuries. However, only 12 cases were identified making interpretation of suitable candidates for repeat imaging difficult. The question is which group of patients would benefit from planned repeat imaging before leaving the resuscitation room.