J Trauma
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Variability in computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging in patients with cervical spine injuries.
The purpose of this study was to describe the performance of adjunctive radiologic imaging in patients with cervical spine injury. ⋯ The majority of patients with cervical spine injury undergo MRI and/or CT imaging. In clinical practice, MRI is superior at identifying soft tissue injuries, whereas CT performs better in identifying bony injuries. Cervical myelograms and tomograms are rarely obtained.
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Multicenter Study
Trauma in the elderly: intensive care unit resource use and outcome.
As the population ages, the elderly will constitute a prominent proportion of trauma patients. The elderly suffer more severe consequences from traumatic injuries compared with the young, presumably resulting in increased resource use. In this study, we sought to examine ICU resource use in trauma on the basis of age and injury severity. ⋯ Age is confirmed as an independent predictor of outcome (mortality) in trauma after stratification for injury severity in this largest study of elderly trauma patients to date. Elderly patients with severe injury (ISS > 30) have decreased ICU resource use secondary to associated increased mortality rates.