A protocol of trauma care in the emergency service including MDCT imaging.

Trauma is the principal cause of young peo ple's death. Care should be appropriate to the severity of the injuries and involves a multidisciplinary team around the clock. In this article, we examine a protocol of care based on ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support) recom mendations, including advances in imaging technology, which have greatly increased quality care in our institu tion. The protocol is based on patient stability and on injury mechanisms. The challenge is to avoid wasting time in the definitive treatment of lesions. Multi-detector computed tomogra phy (MDCT) has brought complete and rapid imaging in stable traumas but it shouldn't delay immediate surgical operations. When patients are unstable despite reanima tion, three important x-rays are taken right on the stretch er (pelvis, neck, and chest) before going into surgery. The head of the trauma team makes a decision on the pertinence of such procedure.