National emergency X-radiography utilization study guidelines versus Canadian C-Spine guidelines on trauma patients, a prospective analytical study.

INTRODUCTION: The most common cause of hospital emergency department visits is trauma resulting from a variety of underlying mechanisms. Unknown neck and spinal cord injuries and a lack of early diagnosis can have catastrophic consequences, such as paralysis of some or all limbs. The use of imaging techniques reduces the number of patients suffering from severe injuries.

OBJECTIVE: To assess and compare the effectiveness and ease of utilizing two different sets of guidelines, the National Emergency X-Radiography Utilization Study guidelines (NEXUS) and the Canadian C-Spine guidelines (CCR), on trauma patients.

METHODS: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. Of all the patients presenting to the hospital, 200 trauma patients were randomly included in the study. NEXUS and CCR were surveyed for each patient, and subsequent radiographies were also requested. The specificity and sensitivity of each of the methods was calculated, and the two methods were compared using Kendall's W test.

RESULTS: A total of 200 trauma patients who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. A total of 69.5% of the patients were male, and 30.5% were female. According to NEXUS guidelines, 47.5% of the patients were required to undergo neck radiography. According to CCR guidelines, 57.5% of the patients were required to undergo neck radiography. The sensitivity was found to be 90% for neck radiography by both NEXUS and CCR guidelines, while specificities were found to be 54.73% and 44.2% for NEXUS and CCR guidelines, respectively.

CONCLUSION: This study showed that the two guidelines have the same sensitivity for evaluating which trauma patients need to undergo radiography. It seems that the NEXUS guidelines have the same effectiveness as CCR for determining which trauma patients need to undergo radiography. They also perform better than CCR guidelines in terms of ruling out which cases need no further radiologic investigation.