[Spiral computerized tomography diagnosis of abdominal seat belt injuries in children]

Seat belt injury (s.b.i.) arises from not properly applied seat belt in case of car accidents. The importance of spiral CT for the diagnosis of s.b.i., especially of hidden traumatic lesions, will be demonstrated. Our experience includes 9 children in the age of 4 to 13 years suffering from life-threatening s.b.i. After life-saving treatment we took a spiral CT (Somatom plus S): first spiral CT, 10 mm slice thickness, without contrast medium (c.m.) and second spiral CT, 5 mm slice thickness, start delay 35-45 s after a large volume of c.m. Of these, 8 of 9 children survived. Besides bruising signs head injuries, and knee joint lesions in 4 of 9 cases, a combination of ruptured duodenum, ruptured liver or spleen, and chance fractures of the spine was found which is typical for s.b.i. In the remaining 5 cases, two of the lesions were combined. Rupture of the small bowel was manifested mainly as the discrete finding of free air or inhomogeneous ascites with a high density (bowel contents mixed with blood). Not only the emergency doctor but also the radiologist should take into account the complexity of seat belt injuries. Spiral CT is the imaging method of choice in the case of polytraumatic children.