Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the initial diagnostic efficacy of low-dose computed tomography (CT) in multi-trauma patients. Methods: 74 patients (44 male, 30 female; average age: 36.9 years) accepted to the emergency unit with the reason of multiple trauma which is included in this study. Cervical and thoracic injury sites were initially evaluated with portable X-Ray and low-dose CT. The Patients’ progress, surgical findings and additional radiologic examination results were recorded until the patients were discharged.Results: The sensitivity and specificity of X-Ray graphies were 50% and 95% for thoracic traumatic pathologies; 0-40% and 95-100% for cervical injuries respectively. CT examination sensitivity and specificity values were 95-100% and 80-100% for thoracic injuries; 95-100% and 96-100% for cervical injuries respectively. Conclusion: Low-dose CT examination is more sensitive than X-Ray graphs for the evaluation of cervicothoracic traumatic injuries. We recommend to prefer low-dose CT as an initial radiologic examination for managing cervicothoracic trauma cases because of its higher diagnostic capability than X-Ray graphy. Key words: Low-dose CT, X-Ray, multiple trauma
