Whole-Body CT in Haemodynamically Unstable Severely Injured Patients - A Retrospective, Multicentre Study. e68880

• Published in: PloS one 2013-07, Vol.8 (7)
• Main Authors: Huber-Wagner, Stefan, Biberthaler, Peter, Haeberle, Sandra, Wierer, Matthias, Dobritz, Martin, Rummeny, Ernst, Griensven, Martijn van, Kanz, Karl-Georg, Lefering, Rolf
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Blood pressure
• ISSN: 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0068880

Background The current common and dogmatic opinion is that whole-body computed tomography (WBCT) should not be performed in major trauma patients in shock. We aimed to assess whether WBCT during trauma-room treatment has any effect on the mortality of severely injured patients in shock. Methods In a retrospective multicenter cohort study involving 16719 adult blunt major trauma patients we compared the survival of patients who were in moderate, severe or no shock (systolic blood pressure 90-110,110 mmHg) at hospital admission and who received WBCT during resuscitation to those who did not. Using data derived from the 2002-2009 version of TraumaRegister registered , we determined the observed and predicted mortality and calculated the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) as well as logistic regressions. Findings 9233 (55.2%) of the 16719 patients received WBCT. The mean injury severity score was 28.8 plus or minus 12.1. The overall mortality rate was 17.4% (SMR = 0.85, 95%CI 0.81-0.89) for patients with WBCT and 21.4% (SMR = 0.98, 95%CI 0.94-1.02) for those without WBCT (p