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Diagnostic imaging of blunt abdominal trauma in pediatric patients

  • PAEDIATRIC RADIOLOGY
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Abstract

Trauma is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in childhood, and blunt trauma accounts for 80–90 % of abdominal injuries. The mechanism of trauma is quite similar to that of the adults, but there are important physiologic differences between children and adults in this field, such as the smaller blood vessels and the high vasoconstrictive response, leading to the spreading of a non-operative management. The early imaging of children undergoing a low-energy trauma can be performed by CEUS, a valuable diagnostic tool to demonstrate solid organ injuries with almost the same sensitivity of CT scans; nevertheless, as for as urinary tract injuries, MDCT remains still the technique of choice, because of its high sensitivity and accuracy, helping to discriminate between an intra-peritoneal form a retroperitoneal urinary leakage, requiring two different managements. The liver is the most common organ injured in blunt abdominal trauma followed by the spleen. Renal, pancreatic, and bowel injuries are quite rare. In this review we present various imaging findings of blunt abdominal trauma in children.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Emergency Radiology, Azienda Ospedaliera S. Camillo-Forlanini, Circonvallazione Gianicolense, 87, 00152, Rome, Italy

    Vittorio Miele, Margherita Trinci, Michele Galluzzo & Stefania Ianniello

  2. Department of Medicine and Health Sciences, Università del Molise, Campobasso, Italy

    Claudia Lucia Piccolo & Luca Brunese

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  1. Vittorio Miele
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  2. Claudia Lucia Piccolo
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  3. Margherita Trinci
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  4. Michele Galluzzo
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  5. Stefania Ianniello
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Correspondence to Vittorio Miele.

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Miele, V., Piccolo, C.L., Trinci, M. et al. Diagnostic imaging of blunt abdominal trauma in pediatric patients. Radiol med 121, 409–430 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-016-0637-2

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