Optimal CT protocol for the diagnosis of active bleeding in abdominal trauma patients

The aim of this study is to compare the radiologic diagnostic performance of arterial phase, portal phase and combined phase computed tomography (CT) for traumatic abdominal injury. In addition, this study is attempted to decrease lifetime attributable risks (LARs) of cancer due to radiation exposure by using optimal CT protocol.

A total of 114 consecutive patients with a traumatic abdominal injury and an abdominal hematoma on CT were enrolled at a single tertiary regional trauma center between January 2016 and March 2017. Each CT protocol set was independently reviewed by three radiologists, and the diagnostic performance of all three CT phases were compared with regard to the capability to detect active bleeding, contained vascular injuries, and organ injuries. Additionally, LARs for cancer incidence and mortality were calculated using dose-length product values, for each phase of CT.

The pooled area under the receiver operating characteristic curves for the diagnosis of active bleeding, contained vascular injuries, and organ injuries ranged from 0.910 to 0.922, 0.643 to 0.723, and 0.948 to 0.915 for arterial, portal, and combined phase CT, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the diagnosis of active bleeding and organ injuries for any combination of two phase sets. The mean LARs for cancer incidence was 0.059%, 0.062% and 0.121% during arterial, portal and combined phase CT, respectively.

Single phase CT could be a potential protocol for abdominal trauma patients. Use of single phase CT could significantly decrease the incidence of radiation-associated cancer in the future.