BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of whole-body CT for diagnosis of hand and forearm fractures in intubated patients with suspected polytrauma. METHODS We performed a retrospective analysis on data collected from two trauma centres in Germany, including demographics, ISS, clinical symptoms, depiction in whole-body CT, and time to diagnosis. RESULTS Out of 426 patients included in the study, 66 (15.5%) suffered a hand or forearm fracture. The total number of fractures was 132, the whole-body CT report mentioned 98 (74.2%). 16 (12,1%) fractures of 12 patients were diagnosed later than 24 h after admission. Late diagnoses of fractures of the hand occurred more often if the hand was not fully included in the CT scan field. The sensitivity of whole-body CT for cases with fractures of hand and/or forearm with full inclusion of the corresponding area in the scan field was 80.2%. CONCLUSIONS This study shows that whole-body CT is a valuable diagnostic tool for hand fractures in polytrauma patients. Hands should be evaluated regardless of clinical presentation in intubated patients after suspected polytrauma if they are included in the whole-body CT.

中文翻译：

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全身CT中手和前臂骨折的诊断，用于怀疑插管患者多发伤。

背景技术这项研究的目的是评估全身CT诊断可疑多创伤插管患者手和前臂骨折的潜力。方法我们对从德国两个创伤中心收集的数据进行了回顾性分析，包括人口统计学，ISS，临床症状，全身CT表现和诊断时间。结果在纳入研究的426名患者中，有66名（15.5％）患有手或前臂骨折。骨折总数132例，全身CT报告为98例（74.2％）。入院后24 h确诊了12例患者的16例（12.1％）骨折。如果未将手完全包括在CT扫描字段中，则更容易诊断出手部骨折。全身CT对手部和/或前臂骨折且在扫描区域中完全包含相应区域的病例的敏感性为80.2％。结论这项研究表明，全身CT是多创伤患者手部骨折的有价值的诊断工具。如果可疑的多发伤患者如果被纳入全身CT检查，则无论临床表现如何，都应对手进行评估。