Skull Fractures in Pediatric Emergency Department: the Ultrasound Protocol (SPEED-UP)

June 5, 2026 updated by: Istituto Giannina Gaslini

Protocollo di Studio Ecografico Delle Fratture Craniche in Pronto Soccorso Pediatrico

The aim of this clinical trial is to compare musculoskeletal ultrasound with the reference standard diagnostic test (cranial CT scan) in patients with minor head trauma associated with scalp hematoma and suspected skull fracture. The primary objective is to assess the diagnostic accuracy of point-of-care ultrasound in detecting skull fractures, in terms of sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and likelihood ratios, using cranial CT as the reference standard.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

150

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 6 years of age or less at enrollment
  • Blunt head trauma with skull haematoma
  • Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) >= 14
  • signature of the informed consent form

Exclusion Criteria:

- Haemodinamic or neurological instability

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Diagnostic
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Patients with minor head trauma associated with scalp hematoma and suspected skull fracture
Diagnostic test: Skull ultrasound
Skull point-of-care ultrasound

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Sensibility
Time Frame: Baseline, prior to Computed Tomography of the head
Sensibility of ultrasound examination regarding fracture diagnosis, compared to gold standard (Computed Tomography scan)
Baseline, prior to Computed Tomography of the head
Specificity
Time Frame: Baseline, prior to Computed Tomography scan of the head
Specificity of ultrasound examination regarding fracture diagnosis, compared to gold standard (Computed Tomography scan)
Baseline, prior to Computed Tomography scan of the head
Positive predictive value
Time Frame: Baseline, prior to Computed Tomography scan of the head
Positive predictive value of ultrasound examination regarding fracture diagnosis, compared to gold standard (Computed Tomography scan of the head)
Baseline, prior to Computed Tomography scan of the head
Negative predictive value
Time Frame: Baseline, prior to Computed Tomography scan of the head
Negative predictive value of ultrasound examination regarding fracture diagnosis, compared to gold standard (Computed Tomography scan of the head)
Baseline, prior to Computed Tomography scan of the head

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Istituto Giannina Gaslini

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 23, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 5, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

June 9, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 9, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 5, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • CET LIGURIA 389-2025 ID14871

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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