Young patients may soon be able to skip the x-ray queue and instead opt for an ultrasound when presenting to a Sunshine Coast emergency department this year.
Fractures are one of the most common reasons a child will
visit an emergency department on the Coast, but with the help of a Wishlist
research grant worth almost $20,000, patients may receive a quicker path to
treatment.
Emergency Specialists at
Sunshine Coast University Hospital (SCUH) Paediatric Emergency Doctor Michelle
Davison and Dr Ruaraidh McRitchie (pictured)
will be studying the use of a specialised ultrasound to diagnose wrist
fractures in those aged between five and 15, which will be the first trial to
demonstrate an x-ray is not required for that type of fracture.
“We are investigating whether or not we can reduce the
number of x-rays we do on children who present with injuries to their arms in
particular,” Dr Davison said.
“Children who have an injury to their arm often have a
different type of break to an adult patient. That’s because the bones are more
bendy so they tend to bend rather than break – often called a buckle facture.
“We can often see a small bend in the bone on an ultrasound
scan, rather than having to send them for an x-ray. This will speed up their
treatment but it will also reduce radiation for kids.”
The study will be undertaken at Sunshine Coast hospitals,
Gympie Hospital, Gold Coast University Hospital, Ipswich Hospital and
Queensland Children’s Hospital.
After one and four weeks, a research nurse then follows up
with patients to ask about pain management and any complications.
“This is to make sure that in our process of avoiding that
x-ray we haven’t in fact missed something that we should have picked up.”
Dr Ruaraidh McRitchie said medical staff in the SCUH Emergency
Department currently treat between five and 10 buckle fractures a week.
“If this study shows that this is a safe and effective way
of identifying children with buckle fractures then we will stop doing x-rays in
those kids that we can just see a buckle fracture and manage them in that way,”
Dr McRitchie said.
Wishlist and the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health
Service’s Study, Education, Research Trust fund (SERTF) funded $360,000 worth
of medical research in 2019.
