@article{Naseer_Kapadia_Masud_2022, title={Validity of Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) in Pediatric Trauma Patients - A Cross Sectional Study from a Tertiary Care Hospital in Pakistan}, volume={28}, url={https://annalskemu.org/journal/index.php/annals/article/view/4994}, DOI={10.21649/akemu.v28i1.4994}, abstractNote={<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Head trauma in the pediatric age group is a common presentation in the Emergency Room (ER). The</p> <p>Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) tool can help an ER clinician to identify pediatric head</p> <p>trauma patients at very low risk of clinically important traumatic brain injuries (ciTBIs) and avoid unnecessary CT scans.</p> <p><strong>Objective: </strong>To determine the validity of PECARN rule as compared to the head CT (gold standard) in identifying low risk</p> <p>traumatic brain injury pediatric patients. <strong>Methods: </strong>A cross-sectional study was done at Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) Emergency Department ED. All pediatric head trauma patients were included in this study between 2017-2019. A total of 218 head trauma cases were reviewed which were evaluated for the PECARN criteria. Data were extracted on a prepared data collection form. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS. Chi-square test was used. <strong>Results: </strong>Among the total 218, 190 cases (87%) had CT scans ordered. Out of these 190 patients 156 (82%) met PECARN criteria, while 34 (18%) were PECARN negative. The sensitivity and specificity of PECARN was calculated as 82% and 33% respectively, with a fair level of agreement with CT scan based on Kappa statistics. <strong>Conclusion: </strong>PECARN has a higher sensitivity but lower specificity in comparison to CT scan. </p>}, number={1}, journal={Annals of King Edward Medical University}, author={Naseer, Naureen and Kapadia, Nazir Najeeb and Masud, Sarwat}, year={2022}, month={May}, pages={58–63} }