Role of radiology in diagnosis and management of chest trauma: a brief review

Abstract

A substantial source of death and morbidity in chest trauma patients is damage to the chest wall. The radiologists' accurate diagnosis and description of any damage to the chest wall can help direct the right care for the patient. The improvement in patient treatment results from catastrophic intra-thoracic injuries being diagnosed quickly. The imaging method used in an emergency situation must arrive at the right diagnosis as soon as feasible. Imaging is a crucial component of post-chest trauma care for both the initial diagnostic evaluation and the follow-up evaluation of prospective treatments. The anterio-posterior chest radiograph continued to be the first step in the imaging work-up despite its well-known limitations. Computed tomography with adjunctive imaging, which is now more frequently done on multi-detector computed tomography equipment, provides an important information that is not immediately available on the traditional radiograph. This enables a clearer description of thoracic injuries linked to trauma. This review aimed to examine and explain the radiological models connected with the diagnosis of chest trauma, as well as to explore the consequences for care. [SJEMed 2024; 5(1.000): 042-048]

Keywords

• chest trauma
• radiography
• multi-detector computed tomography
• x-ray
• diagnosis