• N. Z. Med. J. · Feb 2005

    Use of early magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of occult scaphoid fractures: the CAST Study (Canberra Area Scaphoid Trial).

    • Sashi Kumar, Alan O'Connor, Mervyn Despois, and Howard Galloway.
    • Department of Emergency Medicine, The Canberra Hospital, Canberra, ACT, Australia. sashi.kumar@act.gov.au
    • N. Z. Med. J. 2005 Feb 11;118(1209):U1296.

    AimTo establish the effectiveness of early magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the diagnosis of scaphoid fracture in patients with suggestive clinical findings (but a normal initial X-ray) in an Australian major-referral emergency departmentMethodsA prospective study of patients who presented within 24 hours after trauma with clinical findings suggestive of a scaphoid fracture but no evidence of fracture on the initial X-ray. MRI was performed within 24 hours of presentation. Clinical review in patients with normal initial MRI was carried out in 10 days and repeat MRI was carried out when clinically indicated.ResultsA total of 22 patients were enrolled. Early MRI within 24 hours revealed 6 scaphoid fractures, 2 distal radial fractures and a hamate fracture. Thirteen patients had no fracture on the initial MRI. Upon clinical review in 10 days, 5 of these patients were clinically cleared and discharged. Eight of these patients underwent repeat MRI none of which revealed a fracture.ConclusionsIn an Australian tertiary hospital with MRI facility, the early use of MRI is a sensitive and practical way to diagnose occult scaphoid fractures and saves unnecessary immobilisation.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…