The value of precontrast thoraco-abdominopelvic CT in polytrauma patients.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the utility and radiation dose of thoraco-abdominopelvic precontrast CT in polytrauma patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We examined retrospectively 125 patients who underwent a thoraco-abdominopelvic CT for trauma. Two radiologists, independently, evaluated precontrast CT acquisition and two other radiologists examined the contrast-enhanced scans. A further two radiologists assessed both the acquisitions. Mean value of sensitivity (SE), specificity (SP), positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated by each group of radiologists. For 104 patients, CTDIvol, DLP data and individual mean size were collected to calculate effective dose. RESULTS: Mean values of SE, SP, PPV and NPV of findings of radiologists who assessed contrast-enhanced acquisitions were respectively: SE=85%, SP=98%, PPV=86%, NPV=88% versus: SE=43%, SP=95%, PPV=69%, NPV=88% of radiologists who examined non-contrast-enhanced scans. Mean values of radiologists who analyzed both acquisitions were: SE=80%, SP=97%, PPV=80%, NPV=88%. Neither the precontrast scans nor the precontrast and postcontrast scans together provided additional useful information compared to the single contrast-enhanced acquisition. Patients received a mean dose of 12 mSv for the precontrast CT. CONCLUSIONS: Precontrast CT acquisition did not provide significant information in trauma patients, exposing them to an unjustified radiation dose.

Survey of travel-related problems in dogs.

The aim of this study was to quantitatively assess the kind of transport dogs undergo, the behaviours displayed during transport, the prevalence of travel-related problems in dogs and owners' interventions to solve these problems. A convenience sample of 907 dog owners completed a questionnaire containing 16 multiple-choice questions. All dogs had been transported by car at least once, but 4.7 per cent were no longer transported. 76.2 per cent of animals always responded positively to car transport, the rest showing or having shown problems (6.7 per cent always reacted negatively). Dogs were found to be more excited than inhibited during car transport. The vast majority (86.0 per cent) had become used to travelling by car as puppies; this made them less likely to develop problems (6.3 per cent v 24.1 per cent; χ(2)=19.886, P=0.000). If dogs were transported only to veterinary clinics, they were more prone to respond negatively to car transport (46.4 per cent v 22.7 per cent; χ(2)=7.245, P=0.007). For dogs reported as problematic (23.8 per cent of the sample), 96.3 per cent of the owners did not administer any treatments or other substances, 48.7 per cent did not seek any advice, and 40.4 per cent of them made attempts to solve the problem by themselves.