Update on pediatric trauma care.

Injuries are responsible for more deaths in the pediatric age group than all other causes combined. Care of the injured child, with attention to the way in which patterns of injury and therapeutic responses differ from adults, is a fundamental tenet of pediatric trauma care. As appropriate resource utilization is increasingly mandated, those involved in the care of traumatized children are investigating the efficient application of laboratory and radiologic resources for the evaluation of the pediatric trauma patient and the differential use of hospital resources by various treatment strategies. Familiar diagnostic modalities are put to new uses in the care of the trauma patient. Finally, the alarming increase in violent injury of children and adolescents is bringing a change in the epidemiology of injuries observed in pediatric trauma centers.