Trauma Radiography

Introduction to Trauma Radiography.

Trauma is mechanical damage to the body caused by an external force. The trauma patient has been defined as “an injured person who requires timely diagnosis and treatment of actual or potential injuries by a multidisciplinary team of health care professionals, support by the appropriate resources, to diminish or eliminate the risk of the death or permanent disability.” Trauma can occur as a result of a blunt, penetrating, or thermal mechanism. (Peitzman, Rhodes, Schwab, 2008).

In the United States, trauma is the fifth leading cause of death and patients between 1 and 44 years of age is the leading source of mortality. Trauma can be classified into specific injury patterns such as age and genders. While the

The classification of TBI divided into primary and secondary injuries. Primary injuries are the direct result that have already occurred to the head by the time the patient first present for medical attention whereas secondary injuries can be preventable and it arises as complications of primary injuries (Le and Gean, 2006). TBI also divided into location (intra- or extra-axial), mechanism (penetrating/open or blunt/closed), and clinical severity (minor, mild, moderate, or severe) (Le and Gean, 2006).

In Le and Gean study, the Glasgow Coma Scale (minor: GCS _ 15; mild: GCS _ 13; moderate: 9 _ GCS _ 12; severe: 3 _ GCS _ 8) is used to rule out the severity of head injury. Epidural, subdural, subarachnoid, and intraventricular hemorrhage are primary extra-axial injuries whereas primary intra-axial lesions include cortical contusions, intracerebral hematomas, axonal shearing injuries, gray matter injury, and vascular injury. Acute and subacute secondary injuries include cerebral edema, ischemia, and brain herniation. Hydrocephalus, the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak, leptomeningeal cyst, and encephalomalacia are chronic secondary