Abstract

Penetrating trauma is frequently encountered in forward deployed military combat hospitals. Abdominal blast injuries represent nearly 11% of combat injuries, and multiplanar computed tomography imaging is optimal for injury assessment and surgical planning. We describe a multiplanar approach to assessment of blast and ballistic injuries, which allows for more expeditious detection of missile tracts and damage caused along the path. Precise delineation of the trajectory path and localization of retained fragments enables time-saving and detailed evaluation of associated tissue and vascular injury. For consistent and reproducible documentation of fragment locations in the body, we propose a localization scheme based on Cartesian coordinates to report 3-dimensional locations of fragments and demonstrating the application in three cases of abdominal blast injury.

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Authors

Fischer TV, Folio LR, Backus CE, Bunger R

Institution

Technical University Munich, Arcisstrasse 21, 80333 Munich, Germany.

Source

Military medicine 177:1 2012 Jan pg 101-7

MeSH

Abdominal Injuries
Blast Injuries
Child
Humans
Patient Care Planning
Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
Triage

Pub Type(s)

Case Reports
Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

22338990