Abstract text (incl. references and figure legends)
Study Aim: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of chest wall injuries and injury patterns in elderly patients (>65 years) with low level falls who underwent trauma CT.
Introduction: North Manchester General Hospital is a non- trauma centre but sees a significant number of elderly fallers. Our previous clinical experience has demonstrated that many elderly fallers sustain chest wall injuries which are relatively occult. Our current institution uses a selective approach to trauma CT in this cohort.
Methodology: Our current practice is firstly to perform a selective Trauma CT scan (head, neck, thorax or pelvis) for patients low level falls or evidence of rib fractures on CXR. The CT scan reports and clinical notes were reviewed of all elderly patients (over 65 years of age) who had a trauma CT (head, neck, chest, abdomen and pelvis) or a CT thorax and abdomen over a twelve-month period (September 2020 – September 2021).
Results: One hundred and eighty-three elderly patients underwent a CT scan following trauma over the specified twelve-month period. Ninety-three patients had a pan trauma CT and ninety patients had a thorax /abdomen). The mean age of the cohort was 82.11 years. 22.4% (n=41) of the cohort were found to have one or more rib fractures on CT. 13.9% (n=6) of the patients were identified to have a one rib fracture detected on CT scan. 25.5% (n=11) of the patients were identified to have a two rib fractures and 55.8% (n=24) of the patients were identified to have a more than 2 rib fractures detected on CT scan. 16.2% (n=7) had associated haemothorax identified on CT scan while 11.6% (n=5) had associated pneumothorax.
Conclusion: This study found that for elderly patients with low level falls multiple rib fractures were more common than isolated rib fractures. The study There is a significant risk of chest wall injuries in elderly patients presenting after low energy falls.
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Nothing to disclose.