Injury
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Review
The ATLS(®) classification of hypovolaemic shock: A well established teaching tool on the edge?
Uncontrolled bleeding is the leading cause of shock in trauma patients and delays in recognition and treatment have been linked to adverse outcomes. For prompt detection and management of hypovolaemic shock, ATLS(®) suggests four shock classes based upon vital signs and an estimated blood loss in percent. Although this classification has been widely implemented over the past decades, there is still no clear prospective evidence to fully support this classification. ⋯ Considering these potential deficits associated with the ATLS(®) classification of hypovolaemic shock, an online survey among 383 European ATLS(®) course instructors and directors was performed to assess the actual appreciation and confidence in this tool during daily clinical trauma care. Interestingly, less than half (48%) of all respondents declared that they would assess a potential circulatory depletion within the primary survey according to the ATLS(®) classification of hypovolaemic shock. Based on these observations, a critical reappraisal of the current ATLS(®) classification of hypovolaemic seems warranted.
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Multicenter Study
How to define severely injured patients?-An Injury Severity Score (ISS) based approach alone is not sufficient.
Multiple injured patients, polytrauma or severely injured patients are terms used as synonyms in international literature describing injured patients with a high risk of mortality and cost consuming therapeutic demands. In order to advance the definition of these terms, we analysed a large trauma registry. In detail, we compared critically ill trauma patients first specified on a pure anatomical base according to the ISS or NISS, second in the original "polytrauma definition" with two body regions affected and finally all of them combined with a physiological component. ⋯ In our opinion the principle of sharpening an anatomically based definition by a defined physiological problem will help to specify the really critically ill trauma patients.
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Multicenter Study
Effect of the localisation of the CT scanner during trauma resuscitation on survival-A retrospective, multicentre study.
Whole-body computed tomography (WBCT) is increasingly becoming the standard diagnostic technique during the resuscitation of severely injured patients. However, little is known about the ideal localisation of the CT scanner within the emergency setting. We intended to analyse the potential effect of the localisation of the CT scanner on outcome. ⋯ It was proven for the first time that a close distance of the CT scanner to the trauma room has a significant positive effect on the probability of survival of severely injured patients. The closer the CT is located to the trauma room, the better the probability of survival. Distances of more than 50 m had a significant negative effect on the outcome. If new emergency departments are planned or rebuilt, the CT scanner should be placed less than 50 m away from or preferably in the trauma room.
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Following pelvic fracture in females of childbearing age, the question of whether or not natural pregnancy and childbirth can occur is often asked by both patients and clinicians. The following is a systematic review of the literature examining caesarean section rate in patients with prior pelvic fracture. ⋯ Patients with prior pelvic fracture undergo caesarean section at a rate greater than those without prior pelvic fracture. The cause for this is not entirely understood but seems to be related at least in part to patient and obstetrician bias rather than solely due to the pelvic fracture and cephalopelvic disproportion.