@article {Kroczek643, author = {Eduard K Kroczek and Gero Wieners and Ingo Steffen and Tobias Lindner and Florian Streitparth and Bernd Hamm and Martin H Maurer}, title = {Non-traumatic incidental findings in patients undergoing whole-body computed tomography at initial emergency admission}, volume = {34}, number = {10}, pages = {643--646}, year = {2017}, doi = {10.1136/emermed-2016-205722}, publisher = {British Association for Accident and Emergency Medicine}, abstract = {Objective To evaluate the number, localisation and importance of non-traumatic incidental findings (IFs) in patients with suspected or obvious multiple trauma undergoing whole-body CT (WBCT) in a level-1 trauma centre.Methods Between January 2009 and December 2013, a total of 2440 patients with trauma undergoing WBCT at admission to a level-1 trauma centre of a university hospital were retrospectively analysed, through imaging IFs unrelated to trauma with the radiological reports. All IFs were grouped into four categories according to their clinical relevance. Category 1: urgent treatment or further clarification needed; category 2: further examination and follow-up within 3{\textendash}6 months required; category 3: findings with no immediate consequences for the treatment of the patient but of potential relevance in the future; category 4: harmless findings.Results Altogether, 5440 IFs in 2440 patients (1735 male, 705 female; mean age 45.1 years) were documented. In 204 patients (8.4\%) urgent category 1 findings were reported, 766 patients (31.4\%) had category 2 findings, 1236 patients (50.7\%) had category 3 findings and 1173 patients (48.1\%) had category 4 findings. Most IFs were detected in the abdomen/pelvis (42.5\%). 602 (24.7\%) of the patients had no IFs.Conclusions WBCT scans of unrelated trauma patients demonstrate a high rate of IF. A substantial percentage (8.4\%) of patients had urgent category 1IFs and a high percentage (31.4\%) had category 2 IFs requiring a follow-up. This high number of patients with polytrauma undergoing WBCT, having IFs of high relevance, poses a major challenge for the level-1 trauma centre in the acute and postacute management of these patients.}, issn = {1472-0205}, URL = {https://emj.bmj.com/content/34/10/643}, eprint = {https://emj.bmj.com/content/34/10/643.full.pdf}, journal = {Emergency Medicine Journal} }