SIR Releases Position Statement on Image-Guided Interventions in Pediatric Trauma Care

The Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) published a new position statement outlining best practice of image-guided endovascular interventions when treating children in emergency situations. The statement, published in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (JVIR), recommends a multidisciplinary approach to pediatric trauma care, and provides the tailored scenarios in which endovascular interventions should be considered. 

“By necessity, pediatric trauma is managed differently than adult trauma, and a multidisciplinary approach by a team with pediatric expertise is crucial to a successful outcome,” said Aparna Annam, DO, FAAP, FSIR, director of pediatric interventional radiology at Children's Hospital Colorado and the statement’s principal author. “Interventional radiology plays an important role that is continually expanding as new technology develops. This new position statement will help trauma teams understand the appropriate role of endovascular interventions in treating children during an emergency.”

Written by a multidisciplinary group of pediatric trauma experts representing interventional radiology, emergency medicine, intensive care medicine and surgery, this is SIR’s first position statement to define the appropriate use of endovascular interventions for pediatric trauma. The authors evaluated the current published literature to establish 15 recommendations covering traumatic injuries to the liver, spleen, kidneys, abdomen, pelvis, vascular system and the extremities. The position statement provides treatment protocols that include appropriateness of nonoperative management and offers staffing and equipment guidance for endovascular treatments in the pediatric trauma patient population.

“Interventional radiology is an integral part of the trauma care team. Our evidence-based position statement will ensure that even the youngest patients will have access to safe and appropriate minimally invasive image-guided treatments, speeding recovery and reducing the length of hospital stays,” said SIR President Robert J. Lewandowski, MD, FSIR, an interventional radiologist and professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. 

The position statement, “Society of Interventional Radiology Position Statement on Endovascular Trauma Intervention in the Pediatric Population,” is endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Surgeons, American Pediatric Surgical Association, Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America, Pediatric Trauma Society, Society for Pediatric Interventional Radiology, and the Society for Pediatric Radiology.