Abstract

A short-cut review was carried out to establish whether physical and laboratory data can exclude intra-abdominal injury in children. A total of 54 papers was found using the reported search, of which three represented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these best papers are tabulated. The clinical bottom line is that physical and laboratory data review may decrease the need for abdominal CT in the paediatric population.