Articles: trauma.
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Eur J Trauma Emerg S · Aug 2010
A Portable CT Scanner in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Decreases Transfer-Associated Adverse Events and Staff Disruption.
Computerized tomography (CT) is an important diagnostic tool in the management of critically ill children, especially those with neurosurgical problems such as traumatic brain injury. Traditionally, such scans require transfer to the radiology department (RD) at times of extreme physiological instability, such as incipient cerebral herniation, and exposes children with actual, or potential, spinal injuries to the risks of transfer. Moving children from pediatric intensive care (PIC), often overnight, also depletes units of senior staff. Portable CT (PCT) scanning offers a solution to this problem, and we assessed patient stability and staff time occupied during urgent CT scans before and after the introduction of a PCT scanner (CereTom(®)) in a regional neurosurgical pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). ⋯ PCT scanning is safe for unstable neurosurgical patients who need urgent diagnostic head CT, reducing the risks associated with transfer and the depletion of staff provision to the other children in the PICU. While this study did not specifically address image quality, all images were diagnostic regarding the indication for scanning.
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Injury remains a major cause of death and disability worldwide. ⋯ Childhood injury accounts for a substantial burden of disease in Maputo, Mozambique. This study highlights the fact that many of these injuries are consistent with the injury patterns seen in children in other low and middle income countries, and are amenable to prevention, access, and emergency care programs targeted at children and their families, schools, and the local and national community.
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This study sought to evaluate the incidence of neurologic injury in children referred for manipulation in our hospital. A retrospective chart analysis of the first 100 children to be referred with a fracture of any segment of the radius and/or ulna was performed. ⋯ Clinicians require a high index of suspicion when evaluating forearm fractures. If neurologic injury is missed at initial assessment, the child may not receive a prompt reduction, thus increasing the likelihood of long-term sequelae.