Shamir Rai BSC, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

David Tso MD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Patrick McLaughlin FFR(RCSI), Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Chesnal Dey Arepalli MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Luck Jan-Luck Louis MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Savvas Nicolaou MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the clinical utility of the novel prototype Polytrauma Viewer (Siemens Healthcare, Forchheim, Germany) in the setting of unstable acute polytrauma patients.

32 unstable blunt acute trauma patients, between Nov. 2009 and Mar. 2014, meeting the criteria of SBP <90, GCS < 8, ISS ≥ 16, at a level 1 trauma center who underwent a whole-body CT (WBCT) scan were identified. Time to conduct the WBCT and time to final reconstruction was recorded. Two trauma radiologists (combined experience of 24 years) were blinded and interpreted the scans for life-threatening injuries [defined as non-contained vascular injury, unstable fractures, aortic dissection, tension pneumothorax, and intra/extra axial hemorrhage with significant mass effect] using the PACS workstation as the gold standard and the novel Polytrauma Viewer. Qualitative and quantitative measurements were used for image assessment. Time to load and process images, time to interpret and reach a final diagnosis, confidence of exclusion of life-threatening injuries (on a scale of 1-10, with 1 representing no confidence and 10 representing high confidence) and missed diagnosis were recorded when compared to the final report.

The mean total time to scan, perform the WBCT and complete the last reconstruction was 458s±258, 18.47s±11.89 and 3454s±1610 respectively. A significant reduction (p <0.0001) in the time to identify life-threatening pathology and loading time was noted between the novel Polytrauma and PACS stations (221s±60.65 vs. 386s±65.46; 32.60s ±6.132 vs. 61.67s±14.05 respectively). The confidence to exclude traumatic pathology did not differ between the viewing stations. No life-threatening injuries were missed on either viewing station.

The novel Polytrauma Viewer (Siemens Healthcare, Forchheim, Germany) is a promising prototype that can reduce the time to identification of life-threatening injuries in the acute traumatic setting through automatic reconstruction techniques and autosplitting the WBCT.

The novel Polytrauma Viewer can reduce the time to identification of life-threatening injuries in the acute traumatic setting without diagnostic compromise, thereby potentially improving patient outcome and increasing the likelihood of patient survival.

Rai, S, Tso, D, McLaughlin, P, Arepalli, C, Louis, L, Nicolaou, S, Maximizing the Golden Hour: Assessing the Novel Prototype Polytrauma Viewer in the Setting of Unstable Acute Polytrauma Patients.  Radiological Society of North America 2014 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, - ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2014/14017539.html