ABSTRACT
For many reasons, ranging from normal childhood activity to motor vehicle crashes and child abuse, fractures and soft tissue injuries are common in children almost to the point that they are part of growing up in our modern world. Radiological assessment has played an ever-increasing role in the management of these injuries since the early days of X-ray use. In our efforts to bring children back to their normal state of health, diagnostic images now play an essential part in accurately diagnosing injuries and monitoring how they respond to treatment. As technology has evolved, pediatric trauma care has led the field in some areas and lagged behind in others. Because of the differences between adults and children in anatomy, physiology, and tissue and wound healing, and in the spectrum of injuries that they suffer, the exact role of imaging studies will also differ.
