Identification of blunt abdominal injuries in children.

Background: The use of computed tomography (CT) to screen for injuries in pediatric blunt abdominal trauma (BAT) is increasing, concurrent with increasing concern over long-term risk of radiation-associated malignancies. We proposed to determine features that could be identified in the early assessment of these patients, which can predict the likelihood of clinically important intra-abdominal injuries warranting imaging by CT. We further queried if these were discrepant from factors associated with the decision to obtain an abdominal CT.