Radiology plays an integral role in various medical specialities, with Accident
and Emergency (A&E) being no exception.The nature of A&E medicine is
such that a clinician encounters a potentially huge variety of pathologies in
any one shift. Consequently, the various radiological investigations requested
in theA&E setting often form the cornerstone of accurate patient management.
Many established textbooks are available in Medicine, Surgery and Paediatrics
for example,which detail the management of various disease processes.Similarly
there are textbooks of radiology that detail the radiology of the same.However,
it is not uncommon for a clinician to require both the management and radiology
immediately to hand when confronted by a sick patient.This is where
we hope this book comes in.
The book is divided into conveniently recognised body sections; head and face,
cervical spine, thorax, abdomen, upper limb and lower limb.Within each section we
have covered a ‘core’ set of diagnoses that regularly present themselves toA&E
and, where possible, have subdivided each diagnosis according to characteristic,
clinical features, radiological features and management.The supplied radiographs have
been chosen both for their high quality and as excellent examples of the conditions
being described.
We have intentionally avoided being over-expansive with the text in this
book, as it is intended to be a concise overview to emergency radiology and
is meant to help expedite a patient’s passage through theA&E setting. It is with
this in mind that we feel this work is not only suited to both undergraduate
students and doctors at all stages of their training, but also toA&E nurse practitioners
and to other ancillary medical staff involved in emergency medicine.