Injury
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Thoracic injuries are potentially responsible for 25% of all trauma deaths. Chest X-ray is commonly used to screen patients with chest injury. However, the use of computed tomography (CT) scan for primary screening is increasing, particularly for blunt trauma. CT scans are more sensitive than chest X-ray in detecting intra-thoracic abnormalities such as pneumothoraces and pneumomediastinums. Pneumomediastinum detected by chest X-ray or "overt pneumomediastinum", raises the concern of possible aerodigestive tract injuries. In contrast, there is scarce information on the clinical significance of pneumomediastinum diagnosed by CT scan only or "occult pneumomediastinum". Therefore we investigated the clinical consequences of occult pneumomediastinum in our blunt trauma population. ⋯ Occult pneumomediastinum occurred in approximately 6% of all trauma patients with blunt chest injuries in our institution. Patients who had occult pneumomediastinum were more severely injured than those who without. However, none of the patients with occult pneumomediastinum had aerodigestive tract injuries and follow up chest CT scans demonstrated their complete and spontaneous resolution.
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Recent retrospective studies have found high fresh frozen plasma (FFP) to packed red blood cell (PRBC) ratios during trauma resuscitation to be associated with improved mortality. Whilst this association may be related to a mortality bias present in these studies, there has been an overall tendency towards a 1:1 FFP:PRBC ratio in massive transfusion guidelines worldwide. The aim of this study was to retrospectively review the administration of FFP in patients undergoing massive transfusion during trauma resuscitation, to add to the evidence base for massive transfusion guidelines. ⋯ This study has shown increased initial survival in association with higher FFP:PRBC ratios during massive transfusion in a population with a high proportion of blunt injuries. The association is difficult to interpret because of an inherent survival bias. The optimal ratio of FFP:PRBC during massive transfusion may be different to 1:1 and further prospective research is required. There is now an increasing need for well designed randomised controlled trials to determine the best FFP:PRBC ratio for the resuscitation of blunt multi-trauma patients.
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Helicopter ambulances are a scarce and expensive resource and their use carries significant risk for crew and patients. ⋯ Given the financial burden and physical risk of air ambulance use, there should be a more standardised approach to the tasking, dispatch and crew configuration of air ambulances in the UK.
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Patients undergoing damage control laparotomy need intensive and aggressive resuscitation, and may also require adjunctive transarterial embolisation (TAE) for ongoing arterial haemorrhage. We evaluated the effectiveness and timing of TAE in these patients as well as their final outcome. ⋯ TAE is an effective tool in the management of ongoing arterial haemorrhage after damage control laparotomy and eight (50%) patients with ongoing arterial haemorrhages survived from this multidisciplinary treatment. To achieve a good outcome, the operative time of damage control laparotomy should be as short as possible and TAE should be performed without delay. Interventional radiology colleagues should be informed in advance during laparotomy and resuscitation continued in the angiography suite.
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Although trauma is associated with major acute morbidity and mortality, its long-term outcome is less well defined. We sought to define the rate of readmission to hospital and long-term mortality of victims of major trauma. ⋯ Patients with major trauma are at risk for both acute and delayed adverse outcomes.