Universal Screening for Brain Vascular Injury

(PRaCTUS BCVI Trial)

The goal of this clinical trial is to test whether screening all major blunt trauma patients for blood vessel injuries in the neck and head using CT scans (universal screening) leads to fewer strokes and stroke-related deaths compared to screening only selected patients who meet specific risk criteria (selective screening).

This is a pilot feasibility study. The main questions this study aims to answer are:

Can trauma centers that currently use selective screening successfully switch to universal screening? Are the definitions used to identify and measure outcomes clear and applied consistent across all participating hospitals? Do stroke complications occur frequently enough to support a larger, future clinical trial? Can participating trauma centers reliably track and report the number of CT scans performed for this purpose?

Participating trauma centers in the study will: Continue using their existing selective screening approach at the start of the study Switch to universal CT screening of all major blunt trauma patients at an assigned point during the 12-month study period Submit de-identified patient data to the coordinating center using a secure electronic database Researchers will use the result of this initial feasibility study to determine whether a larger clinical trial comparing the two screening strategies is feasible.