In the ED we certainly see a significant number of head injuries. There are an estimated 1.7 million per year in the US. Fortunately most of these are not associated with intracranial bleeding. However, that certainly does not mean that there aren't important diagnoses to consider. Concussions have gained increased attention over the past decade thanks in part to a growing [...]
I encourage you all to check out the topic review that was posted yesterday on Academic Life in Emergency Medicine. It focuses on the well trodden topic of when to get a head CT in a child with a head injury and offers a great summary of the available literature while providing a good discussion of the limitations. Check it [...]
This week on Briefs I wanted to present - with limited comment - a synopsis of the NEXUS and Canadian C-Spine rules. In general, the most common reason we end up getting cervical spine films in the Peds ED is for midline C-Spine pain. I trust you'd all agree that it is important to understand why we do this, and can [...]
Hanson et al. in the latest issue of Pediatrics reviewed data from 2002-2011 and noted that there has been a 92% increase in Sports related head injuries. 3/4 of these patients are male. Though the overall numbers of visits have increased the injury severity (mean ISS 7.8 to 4.8 - β = –0.46; P = .006), and percentage of admissions (χ2 = 9.8, df = 9, P= [...]
Though readily available, and the reference standard for diagnosing intraabdominal injuries (IAI) the radiation exposure from a CT is not benign - especially in children. Ultrasound in trauma (FAST) is a valuable tool - but moreso in adults as children may have physiologic free fluid and injuries that will not require surgery as compared to grown ups with similar findings. [...]
