title: Evaluation of a CT triage protocol for mass casualty incidents: results from two large-scale exercises.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, stability, and reproducibility of a dedicated CT protocol for the triage of patients in two separate large-scale exercises that simulated a mass casualty incident (MCI). In both exercises, a bomb explosion at the local soccer stadium that had caused about 100 casualties was simulated. Seven casualties who were rated "critical" by on-site field triage were admitted to the emergency department and underwent whole-body CT. The CT workflow was simulated with phantoms. The history of the casualties was matched to existing CT examinations that were used for evaluation of image reading under MCI conditions. The times needed for transfer and preparation of patients, examination, image reconstruction, total time in the CT examination room, image transfer to PACS, and image reading were recorded, and mean capacities were calculated and compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. We found no significant time differences in transfer and preparation of patients, duration of CT data acquisition, image reconstruction, total time in the CT room, and reading of the images. The calculated capacities per hour were 9.4 vs. 9.8 for examinations completed, and 8.2 vs. 7.2 for reports completed. In conclusion, CT triage is feasible and produced constant results with this dedicated and fast protocol.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Radiology, University Hospital Munich, Nussbaumstr. 20, 80336, Munich, Germany. markus.koerner@med.lmu.de
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Körner
authors.forename: Michael M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Krötz
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wirth
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huber-Wagner
authors.forename: Karl-Georg
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Kanz
authors.forename: Holger F
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Boehm
authors.forename: Maximilian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reiser
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Linsenmaier
mesh_terms: D002959:Civil Defense / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D054527:Mass Casualty Incidents / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013997:Time Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014218:Triage / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016526:Workload / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology