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Excerpt
Injuries attributable to thoracic trauma will undoubtedly continue to be encountered frequently by health care providers. Because imaging is an increasingly critical component of the management of patients who have sustained thoracic trauma, radiologists should understand the role of imaging in these patients. The goal of this symposium is to review the imaging findings related to thoracic trauma, as well as the appropriate roles of the available imaging modalities.
In the first article, Dr. John Mayberry, a trauma surgeon at Oregon Health Sciences University, discusses the role of imaging from a trauma surgeon's perspective. He reviews the epidemiology and biomechanics of thoracic trauma and then outlines the information a trauma surgeon needs from imaging studies to manage the patient. Next, Dr. Zinck and I present an overview of the radiographic and computed tomography (CT) findings in blunt thoracic trauma. The following four articles are more focused on specific injuries caused by blunt thoracic trauma.
Dr. Joel Fishman discusses injuries of the aorta and great vessels, with an emphasis on evaluation with spiral CT. He also presents a current algorithm for diagnosing traumatic aortic injury, including the roles of chest radiography, CT, and aortography. Next, Drs. K. Shanmuganathan, Karen Killeen, Stuart Mirvis, and Charles White cover imaging of traumatic diaphragm injuries. Although plain film findings are described, the emphasis is on diagnosis with CT. Additionally, the potential use of magnetic resonance imaging is discussed. Imaging of skeletal and soft tissue injuries of the chest wall is then presented by Dr. Jannette Collins.
Next, Dr. Loren Ketai discusses the relatively rare nonaortic mediastinal injuries: tracheobronchial, esophageal, and cardiac injuries. Although most traumatic chest injuries are caused by blunt trauma, radiologists should be familiar with the role of imaging in penetrating chest trauma. Drs. Suzanne LeBlang and Matthew Dolich review the imaging of injuries caused by penetrating thoracic trauma.
I would like to thank Jeff for the opportunity to edit this symposium. I also thank the authors for their contributions; they have certainly made this symposium an outstanding, thorough review of imaging of thoracic trauma.
