Diagnostic accuracy of triple-contrast multi-detector computed tomography for detection of penetrating gastrointestinal injury: a prospective study.

Purpose: Neither the performance of CT in diagnosing penetrating gastrointestinal injury nor its ability to discriminate patients requiring either observation or surgery has been determined.

Materials And Methods: This was a prospective, single-institutional observational study of patients with penetrating injury to the torso who underwent CT. Based on CT signs, reviewers determined the presence of a gastrointestinal injury and the need for surgery or observation.

Correlation of MR diffusion tensor imaging parameters with ASIA motor scores in hemorrhagic and nonhemorrhagic acute spinal cord injury.

This study investigated correlations between American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) clinical injury motor scores in patients with traumatic cervical cord injury and magnetic resonance (MR) diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters. Conventional imaging and DTI were performed to evaluate 25 patients (age, 39.7±13.

Diagnostic determinants of craniocervical distraction injury in adults.

Objective: Craniocervical distraction injury is a class of injuries that involve the skull base, the atlas, and the axis. Although these injuries often are overt imaging and clinical findings, the injury can be masked during unreliable physical examinations and difficult to identify during diagnostic imaging. The goal of this study was to identify on coronal and sagittal CT multiplanar reformations precise measurements and qualitative relations between anatomic landmarks that can help in establishing the diagnosis of craniocervical distraction injury.

Deaths among drivers and right-front passengers in frontal collisions: redesigned air bags relative to first-generation air bags.

Objective: After automakers were allowed the option of using sled tests for unbelted male dummies to certify the frontal crash performance of vehicles, most frontal air bags were depowered, starting in model year 1998, to reduce deaths and serious injuries arising from air bag deployments. Concern has been expressed that depowering air bags could compromise the protection of adult occupants. This study aimed to determine the effects of changes in air bag designs on risk of death among front-seat occupants.

Using head-on collisions to compare risk of driver death by frontal air bag generation: a matched-pair cohort study.

US air bag regulations were changed in 1997 to allow tests of unbelted male dummies in vehicles mounted and accelerated on sleds, resulting in longer crash pulses than rigid-barrier crashes. This change facilitated depowering of frontal air bags and was intended to reduce air bag-induced deaths. Controversy ensued as to whether sled-certified air bags could increase adult fatality risk.

Optimization of selection for nonoperative management of blunt splenic injury: comparison of MDCT grading systems.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the usefulness of two CT grading systems of blunt splenic trauma in predicting which patients need surgery or angioembolization.

Materials And Methods: Four hundred patients in hemodynamically stable condition admitted with blunt splenic injury were included in the study. All patients underwent contrast-enhanced MDCT.

Persuasion and licensure: a randomized controlled intervention trial to increase licensure rates among Maryland motorcycle owners.

Objective: This study aimed to determine whether a persuasive educational intervention could increase licensure among motorcycle owners. Unlicensed motorcycle operators appear to be disproportionately involved in police-reported motorcycle crashes in Maryland, accounting for about 27% of motorcycle operators in police-reported crashes, although unlicensed owners comprise 17% of primary motorcycle owners.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted among unlicensed owners.