ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: As part of the primary investigation, polytrauma patients arriving at our emergency department are examined in accordance with the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) rules, using the new Lodox Statscan (LS) digital low-radiation imaging device. The aim of this study was to establish whether entrance and effective radiation doses using LS in children were comparable to those of paediatric Computed Radiography (CR) and to evaluate the duration of scanning for both techniques in young polytrauma patients. METHODS: 19 consecutive polytrauma patients aged <16 years who had LS imaging were included in this prospective analysis. For a comparison of our results, we put together an age-, size-, injury type- and ISS-matched group of young patients screened using paediatric Conventional Radiology (CR). Entrance, effective doses and mean duration of diagnostic imaging were recorded for both groups. RESULTS: Effective and entrance doses were higher in the LS group compared to the paediatric CR group (p<0.001). This might be partly due to the higher radiation dose necessary for lateral LS spine imaging, and also because with conventional radiography, only selected parts of the spine are imaged compared to the standard full spinal view with LS. Diagnostic imaging with LS required less time than paediatric CR (p=0.117). CONCLUSION: LS scanning will probably be a useful diagnostic tool for a range of paediatric clinical indications in the future. But only the future will show whether LS will survive in the face of low-dose radiation CT scanners and magnetic resonance imaging devices that may eventually completely replace conventional radiography.
