• Sarita Magu, Ashok Yadav, and Shalini Agarwal.
• Department of Radiodiagnosis, Pt. B.D. Sharma PGIMS, Rohtak (Haryana), India. nkmagu@rediffmail.com
• Indian J Chest Dis Allied Sci. 2009 Apr 1;51(2):75-81.

ObjectiveTo assess the role of multidetector spiral CT in patients with blunt chest trauma.MethodsForty-two patients (38 males and four females), age range from 6 to 80 years, of blunt chest trauma were evaluated with multidetector computed tomogram (MDCT) after initial radiographs and the results were tabulated.ResultsThe most common mode of injury was motor vehicle accidents (64%). On computed tomography (CT), major injuries were haemothorax (83.33%), consolidation (66.6%), rib fractures (61.90%), pneumothorax (54.76%), diaphragmatic injury (30.95%), lung contusions (28.57%), spinal injury (16.66%), lacerations (9.52%), tracheo-bronchial injury (4.76%), mediastinal haematoma (4.76%), thoracic-aortic injury (4.76%) and oesophageal injury (2.38%). Operative intervention was performed in 11 (26.19%) patients. Of these, diaphragmatic rent repair was done in seven patients (63.63%), exploratory laparotomy alone was done in two (18.18%) and resection and anastomosis and polytetrafluoroethylene graft in one patient each. Three patients each with chest wall injury, thoracic vascular injury and diaphragmatic injury died; while only one patient with lung injury died.ConclusionMultidetector computed tomogram is the modality of choice for rapid assessment of emergency chest trauma patients.

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