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Screening for aortic injury with chest radiography and clinical factors

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of a chest radiograph-based detection algorithm for aortic injury and to determine if a previously developed clinical prediction rule would improve imaging efficiency. A 3-year single institution retrospective case–control study with 25 cases of aortic injury and 181 controls was conducted. The detection algorithm correctly identified 96% of all cases of aortic injury, and a definitive diagnosis was established within 6h for 80% of the patients. However, its efficiency was marginal, with only one in 400 chest X-rays leading to a positive diagnosis. The previously developed clinical prediction rule was not able to stratify patients into a clinically useful range of injury probability, and thus the prediction rule cannot be used to improve the efficiency of the existing detection algorithm.

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Correspondence to C. Craig Blackmore.

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Kirkham, J.R., Blackmore, C.C. Screening for aortic injury with chest radiography and clinical factors. Emerg Radiol 14, 211–217 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10140-007-0636-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10140-007-0636-7

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