Abstract
Computed tomography[CT is an effective technique for the evaluation of the thorax following blunt trauma. To evaluate multiply injured 30 patients who were diagnosed as hemothorax in emergency room, computed tomography of thorax was done. The thickness of slice was one centimeter and the entire pleural cavity from the apex to the costophrenic angle was included in the evaluation. Integration and addition of the hemothorax area for each CT slice was made and amount of blood in the pleural cavity was estimated. The slice which showed largest area of hemothorax was selected and the height and width of the hemothorax area were measured. The number of slices which showed radiographic evidence of hemothorax was counted. Regression analysis was done and measured amount of hemothorax, the height and width of the hemothorax area for each slice and number of slices were put as variables. And following equation was derived. V=108.3A-0.8B-7.4C+84.7 [R2=0.74 [ V: amount of hemothorax, A: height, B: width, C: number of slices Total amount of blood from thoracic drainage was compared to the measured amount by computed tomography and the relation between the two values was statistically significant.[p=0.001 In conclusion, quantitative estimation of size of hemothorax was possible by the above equation and the process was very helpful for determination policy of treatment of individual patient.