ACR Appropriateness Criteria® Major Blunt Trauma: Update 2025

Authors

James T. Lee, Panel Chair, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky; Committee on Emergency Radiology, Commission on General, Small, Emergency and/or Rural Practice. Electronic address: jtlee3@uky.edu.
Marc A. Camacho, Mayo Clinic Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona; Committee on Emergency Radiology, Commission on General, Small, Emergency and/or Rural Practice.
Deborah B. Diercks, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; American College of Emergency Physicians.
Sanjeeva P. Kalva, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.
Mahammed Z. Khan Suheb, Advocate Health - MidwestFollow
Faisal Khosa, Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Committee on Emergency Radiology, Commission on General, Small, Emergency and/or Rural Practice.
Angela Lumba-Brown, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California; Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.
Samuel Mandell, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; American Association for the Surgery of Trauma.
Thomas Ptak, R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland.
Clint W. Sliker, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia; Committee on Emergency Radiology, Commission on General, Small, Emergency and/or Rural Practice.
Edwin F. Donnelly, Specialty Chair, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio.

Recommended Citation

Expert Panel on Polytrauma Imaging, Lee JT, Camacho MA, et al. ACR Appropriateness Criteria® Major Blunt Trauma: Update 2025. J Am Coll Radiol. Published online February 27, 2026. doi:10.1016/j.jacr.2026.01.030

Affiliations

St. Luke's Aurora Medical Center

Abstract

Trauma remains the leading cause of mortality in the United States for those <45 years of age, and it is the fourth leading cause of death overall. Polytrauma is defined as an injury to at least two body parts, including the head, neck, chest, abdomen, pelvis, or an extremity, with any one or a combination of these injuries being potentially fatal. This document covers imaging of major blunt trauma or polytrauma resulting in multiple organ injuries. Burn injuries, and injuries to pediatric patients are excluded. The American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria are evidence-based guidelines for specific clinical conditions that are reviewed annually by a multidisciplinary expert panel. The guideline development and revision process support the systematic analysis of the medical literature from peer reviewed journals. Established methodology principles such as Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation or GRADE are adapted to evaluate the evidence. The RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method User Manual provides the methodology to determine the appropriateness of imaging and treatment procedures for specific clinical scenarios. In those instances where peer reviewed literature is lacking or equivocal, experts may be the primary evidentiary source available to formulate a recommendation.

Document Type

Article

PubMed ID

41758104