Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for characterization of indeterminate spleen lesions in primary computed tomography (CT) of patients with blunt abdominal trauma. Twenty-five consecutive patients (8 female, 17 male, mean age 51.6 ± 22.4 years) with an indeterminate spleen lesion diagnosed at CT after blunt abdominal trauma underwent MRI with T2- and T1-weighted images pre- and post-contrast material administration. MRI studies were reviewed by two radiologists. Age, gender, injury mechanism, injury severity score (ISS), management of patients, time interval between CT and MRI, and length of hospital stay were included into the analysis. Patient history, clinical history, imaging, and 2-month clinical outcome including review of medical records and telephone interviews served as reference standard. From the 25 indeterminate spleen lesions in CT, 11 (44 %) were traumatic; nine (36 %) were non-traumatic (pseudocysts, n = 5; hemangioma, n = 4) and five proven to represent artifacts in CT. The ISS (P < 0.001) and the length of hospital stay (P = 0.03) were significantly higher in patients with spleen lesions as compared with those without. All other parameters were similar among groups (all, P > 0.05). The MRI features ill-defined lesion borders, variable signal intensity on T1- and T2-weighted images depending on the age of the hematoma, focal contrast enhancement indicating traumatic pseudoaneurysm, perilesional contrast enhancement, and edema were most indicative for traumatic spleen lesions. As compared with CT (2/25), MRI (5/25) better depicted thin subcapsular hematomas as indicator of traumatic spleen injury. In conclusion, MRI shows value for characterizing indeterminate spleen lesions in primary CT after blunt abdominal trauma.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Kailidou E, Pikoulis E, Katsiva V et al (2005) Contrast-enhanced spiral CT evaluation of blunt abdominal trauma. JBR-BTR 88(2):61–65
Yao DC, Jeffrey RB Jr, Mirvis SE et al (2002) Using contrast-enhanced helical CT to visualize arterial extravasation after blunt abdominal trauma: incidence and organ distribution. AJR Am J Roentgenol 178(1):17–20
Hoff WS, Holevar M, Nagy KK et al (2002) Practice management guidelines for the evaluation of blunt abdominal trauma: the East practice management guidelines work group. J Trauma 53(3):602–615
Stedman JM, Franklin JM, Nicholl H, Anderson EM, Moore NR (2014) Splenic parenchymal heterogeneity at dual-bolus single-acquisition CT in polytrauma patients-6-months experience from Oxford, UK. Emerg Radiol
Becker CD, Mentha G, Schmidlin F, Terrier F (1998) Blunt abdominal trauma in adults: role of CT in the diagnosis and management of visceral injuries. Part 2: gastrointestinal tract and retroperitoneal organs. Eur Radiol 8(5):772–780
Fang JF, Wong YC, Lin BC, Hsu YP, Chen MF (2006) Usefulness of multidetector computed tomography for the initial assessment of blunt abdominal trauma patients. World J Surg 30(2):176–182
Raikhlin A, Baerlocher MO, Asch MR, Myers A (2008) Imaging and transcatheter arterial embolization for traumatic splenic injuries: review of the literature. Can J Surg 51(6):464–472
van der Vlies CH, Olthof DC, Gaakeer M, Ponsen KJ, van Delden OM, Goslings JC (2011) Changing patterns in diagnostic strategies and the treatment of blunt injury to solid abdominal organs. Int J Emerg Med 4:47
Heller MT, Kanal E, Almusa O, et al. (2014) Utility of additional CT examinations driven by completion of a standard trauma imaging protocol in patients transferred for minor trauma. Emerg Radiol
Karlo CA, Stolzmann P, Do RK, Alkadhi H (2013) Computed tomography of the spleen: how to interpret the hypodense lesion. Insights Imaging 4(1):65–76
Modi S, Gadvi R, Yeo D, Galea-Soler S (2014) Retrospective review of image quality of CT in polytrauma patients: comparison of patients scanned using a scoop stretcher and without a scoop stretcher. Emerg Radiol 21(1):23–27
Semelka RC, Martin DR, Balci C, Lance T (2001) Focal liver lesions: comparison of dual-phase CT and multisequence multiplanar MR imaging including dynamic gadolinium enhancement. J Magn Reson Imaging 13(3):397–401
Buntain WL, Gould HR, Maull KI (1988) Predictability of splenic salvage by computed tomography. J Trauma 28(1):24–34
McCort JJ (1987) Caring for the major trauma victim: the role for radiology. Radiology 163(1):1–9
Shuman WP, Ralls PW, Balfe DM et al (2000) Imaging of blunt abdominal trauma. American College of Radiology. ACR Appropriateness Criteria. Radiology 215(Suppl):143–151
Bradley WG Jr (1993) MR appearance of hemorrhage in the brain. Radiology 189(1):15–26
Cocanour CS, Moore FA, Ware DN, Marvin RG, Clark JM, Duke JH (1998) Delayed complications of nonoperative management of blunt adult splenic trauma. Arch Surg 133(6):619–624, discussion 24–5
Andrews MW (2000) Ultrasound of the spleen. World J Surg 24(2):183–187
Poletti PA, Platon A, Becker CD et al (2004) Blunt abdominal trauma: does the use of a second-generation sonographic contrast agent help to detect solid organ injuries? AJR Am J Roentgenol 183(5):1293–1301
Valentino M, Serra C, Zironi G, De Luca C, Pavlica P, Barozzi L (2006) Blunt abdominal trauma: emergency contrast-enhanced sonography for detection of solid organ injuries. AJR Am J Roentgenol 186(5):1361–1367
Lawson DE, Jacobson JA, Spizarny DL, Pranikoff T (1995) Splenic trauma: value of follow-up CT. Radiology 194(1):97–100
Federle MP (1995) Splenic trauma: is follow-up CT of value? Radiology 194(1):23–24
Farhat GA, Abdu RA, Vanek VW (1992) Delayed splenic rupture: real or imaginary? Am Surg 58(6):340–345
Liu PP, Lee WC, Cheng YF et al (2004) Use of splenic artery embolization as an adjunct to nonsurgical management of blunt splenic injury. J Trauma 56(4):768–772, discussion 73
Sodickson A, Baeyens PF, Andriole KP et al (2009) Recurrent CT, cumulative radiation exposure, and associated radiation-induced cancer risks from CT of adults. Radiology 251(1):175–184
Ware DE, Huda W, Mergo PJ, Litwiller AL (1999) Radiation effective doses to patients undergoing abdominal CT examinations. Radiology 210(3):645–650
Poletti PA, Wintermark M, Schnyder P, Becker CD (2002) Traumatic injuries: role of imaging in the management of the polytrauma victim (conservative expectation). Eur Radiol 12(5):969–978
Boscak AR, Shanmuganathan K, Mirvis SE, et al. (2013) Optimizing trauma multidetector CT protocol for blunt splenic injury: need for arterial and portal venous phase scans. Radiology
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gordic, S., Alkadhi, H., Simmen, HP. et al. Characterization of indeterminate spleen lesions in primary CT after blunt abdominal trauma: potential role of MR imaging. Emerg Radiol 21, 491–498 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10140-014-1227-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10140-014-1227-z