Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2009
ReviewReview article: indications for thoracolumbar imaging in blunt trauma patients: a review of current literature.
Thoracolumbar spine injury is a common complication of blunt multitrauma and up to one third of fractures are associated with spinal cord dysfunction. Delayed fracture diagnosis increases the risk of neurological complications. While validated screening guidelines exist for traumatic c-spine injury equivalent guidelines for thoracolumbar screening are lacking. ⋯ There is limited low level evidence guiding surveillance TL imaging in adult blunt trauma patients. Despite this, we propose and evaluate an algorithm with a high negative predictive value for TL fractures. This should be incorporated into spinal injury assessment protocols.