• Algimantas Pamerneckas, Andrei Pijadin, Giedrius Pilipavicius, Gintaras Tamulaitis, Vytautas Toliusis, Andrius Macas, Diana Bilskiene, and Algirdas Blazgys.
• Clinic of Traumatology and Orthopedics, Kaunas University of Medicine, Kaunas, Lithuania. alpa@kmu.lt
• Medicina (Kaunas). 2007 Jan 1;43(2):137-44.

UnlabelledThe aim of this study was to evaluate the mechanism of high-energy blunt trauma, age and gender of patients, severity of regional and multiple injury, ventilation time, length of stay in intensive care unit and in-hospital stay, in-hospital complications, and treatment outcome.Materials And MethodsData on 159 patients with severe multiple injuries, meeting inclusion criteria, were collected prospectively and evaluated retrospectively.ResultsThe mean age of multiple trauma patients was 43.9+/-1.4 years; males were injured 2.5 times more often than females (P<0.001). More than half (66.7%) of patients were 17-64-year-old males. Majority (83%) of all patients were injured in motor vehicle crashes, and 52.2% of these patients were pedestrians. The mean Injury Severity Score was 29.5+/-0.8, and severe (Abbreviated Injury Scale score of 3 and more) injuries of extremities, head, and chest made up 69.1% of all injuries. The mean ventilation time, mean length of stay in intensive care unit, and mean in-hospital stay were 5.5+/-0.7, 7.0+/-0.8, and 23.6+/-1.6 days, respectively. Acute lung complications were the most common (25.2%). Systemic inflammatory response syndrome developed in 7.5% of patients, and sepsis in 3.8% of patients. More than one-fifth (20.8%) of polytrauma patients died.ConclusionsWorking-age male pedestrians (17-64 years old) made up two-thirds of all polytrauma patients. Severe injuries of extremities, head, and chest were present in 69.1% of all cases. Lung complications were the most common.

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