title: Radiological evaluation of the posterior pelvic ring in paediatric patients: Results of a retrospective study developing age- and gender-related non-osseous baseline characteristics in paediatric pelvic computed tomography - References for suspected sacroiliac joint injury.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The prevalence of paediatric pelvic injury is low, yet they are often indicative of accompanying injuries, and an instable pelvis at presentation is related to long-term poor outcome. Judging diastasis of the sacroiliac joint in paediatric pelvic computed tomography is challenging, as information on their normal appearance is scarce. We therefore sought to generate age- and gender-related standard width measurements of the sacroiliac joint in children for comparison.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 427 pelvic computed tomography scans in paediatric patients (<18 years old) were retrospectively evaluated. After applying exclusion criteria, 350 scans remained for measurements. Taking a standard approach we measured the sacroiliac joint width bilaterally in axial and coronal planes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We illustrate age- and gender-related measurements of the sacroiliac joint width as a designated continuous 3rd, 15th, 50th, 85th and 97th centile graph, respectively. Means and standard deviations in the joint width are reported for four age groups. There are distinct changes in the sacroiliac joint's appearance during growth. In general, male children exhibit broader sacroiliac joints than females at the same age, although this difference is significant only in the 11 to 15-year-old age group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The sacroiliac joint width in children as measured in coronal and axial CT scans differs in association with age and gender. When the sacroiliac joint width is broader than the 97th centile published in our study, we strongly encourage considering a sacroiliac joint injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery, University Hospital Freiburg, Germany. Electronic address: joerg.bayer@uniklinik-freiburg.de.
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bayer
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University Hospital Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Jakob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Neubauer
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Kreiskrankenhaus Emmendingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Saueressig
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery, University Hospital Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Norbert Paul
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Südkamp
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery, University Hospital Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Kilian
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Reising
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007593:Joint Instability / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D010384:Pelvic Bones / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000293:injuries; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012446:Sacroiliac Joint / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000293:injuries; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
keywords: Computed tomography; Paediatric trauma; Pelvic fracture; Pelvic injury; Sacroiliac joint