Polytrauma

On admission to hospital any trauma patient should immediately undergo x-ray diagnosis of their cervical spine, chest, and pelvis, commonly known as a 'trauma series', to ascertain possible life-threatening injuries.

(Where available, a CT trauma series for head, neck, thorax, abdomen and pelvis may be the imaging modality of first choice).

It also is quite common in severe trauma for patients to be sent directly to CT or a surgery theatre, if they require emergency treatment.

In previous wars most soldiers with such multiple injuries simply did not survive, even if quickly transferred into hospital care.

Today many polytrauma victims never fully regain their previous physical capacity, and are more susceptible to psychological complications, such as PTSD.

They are managed by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and are located in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Palo Alto, California; Richmond, Virginia; San Antonio, Texas, and Tampa, Florida.

Based on extensive research, the VA-TBI Screening Tool has revealed high sensitivity and moderate specificity allowing VA to identify symptomatic Veterans and develop an appropriate plan of care.