Earthquake-related injuries: Evaluation with multidetector computed tomography and digital radiography of 1491 patients

Abstract Purpose The aim of this study was to evaluate the common features of earthquake-related injuries using radiography and computed tomography. Materials and Methods We retrospectively reviewed the radiography and multidetector computed tomography features of 1491 patients injured in 2008 Sichuan earthquake. We categorized patients by age group ( Results We detected earthquake-related trauma in 1197 patients (80.28%), including head injuries, facial fractures, thoracic injuries, abdominal injuries, pelvic fractures, spinal injuries, and extremity fractures in 91, 41, 354, 30, 204, 299, and 732 (61.15%) patients, respectively ( χ 2 = 1844.747, P χ 2 = 104.113, P χ 2 = 64.420, P B = 2.285, P = .004), head injuries ( B = 2.194, P B = 1.989, P B = 1.539, P Conclusions The Sichuan earthquake most commonly resulted in extremity fractures, but there was a high incidence of injuries to multiple body areas. Head, abdominal, and thoracic injuries and age older than 64 years all were significant risk factors for earthquake mortality.