Golden Hour crucial to a trauma patient's survival

Dubai: Trauma is the most common cause of death for people under 45 and correct evaluation of patients is vital to saving lives, say radiologists.

They point to the large number of deaths in the UAE where emergencies and accidents caused 32 deaths per 100,000. This is compared to four deaths per 100,000 in the UK.

"The correct use of modern radiology for diagnosis and evaluation of trauma patients is imperative," say radiologists. They note that the ‘Golden Hour' after a patient experiences a traumatic injury is crucial.

The most common causes of trauma in the UAE are road traffic accidents, falls from buildings and suicide attempts. According to the Health Authority — Abu Dhabi (HAAD), the common causes of deaths in Abu Dhabi, about 63 per cent were caused by road traffic accidents.

Critically injured

"The ‘Golden Hour' is a brief window of time in which the lives of a majority of critically injured trauma patients can be saved, if definitive treatment is provided", says Dr Sayeed Iqbal, a radiologist at the Rashid Hospital Trauma Centre in Dubai.

He says that the efficient use of modern imaging equipment can ensure that the correct diagnosis can be made within minutes of the patient arriving at the trauma centre. "For example, with a CT Scan Critical Imaging System, full body X-ray images can be completed in 13 seconds or less and the total examination time from beginning to end takes only 3-4 minutes.

The main of a CT Scan machine is that is uses approximately 25 per cent of the radiation dose of one conventional chest X-ray to create the full body image."

Dr Hossam Kotb, radiologist with the Trauma Centre will give a presentation on the use of multiple imaging modalities along with his colleague at the upcoming Imaging and Diagnostics Management Conference in Dubai.

Event

This topic will be discussed as part of a wider conference programme taking place during the Fourth Hospital Build and Infrastructure Middle East Exhibition and Congress from June 4 to 6.

The Rashid Hospital Trauma Centre (RHTC) provides a wide variety of services such as 24/7 emergency services for patients of all ages. This includes services for acute medical emergencies, acute surgical emergencies, acute psychiatric emergencies, acute cardiac emergencies and infectious diseases for adults, as well as disaster management for major events.

"At RHTC, we also use a PolyTrauma CT to assess our patients," says Dr Iqbal. "This is a 12-minute ‘whole body' examination where the head, spine, thorax, abdomen and pelvis are assessed all in one go.

"The main point to remember is that trauma patients are high risk and in order to quickly and efficiently assess the extent of the damage to the body, we need close cooperation between the radiologist in the trauma room, and the surgeon in the CT-suite."