Der Radiologe
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In childhood blunt trauma to the chest wall is more frequent than penetrating injuries. Most of these are the result of traffic accidents. Solitary or serial rib fractures are seen more often than fractures of the sternum. ⋯ The prognosis also depends on the concurrent injuries. The initial evaluation of an injured child is based on the chest X-ray and abdominal ultrasound examination. Additional information can be obtained by a CT scan in mediastinal injuries.
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Depending on the clinical symptomatology, computed tomography (CT) is the predominant examination technique. CT reliably shows live-threatening intra- or extracerebral hemorrhage. ⋯ In many cases localized edema can be identified, but because of the normally very narrow cortical sulci in children and younger people, the general post-traumatic brain swelling is often diagnosed only retrospectively. Magnetic resonance tomography is more sensitive than CT concerning subtle changes in the depth of the white matter and should be used for follow-up studies as a supplementary examination.