Injury
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The Advanced Trauma Life Support guidelines (ATLS; 2018, 10th ed.) recommend an early and liberal supplemental oxygen for all severely injured trauma patients to prevent hypoxaemia. As of 2024, these guidelines remain the most current. This may lead to hyperoxaemia, which has been associated with increased mortality and respiratory complications. We aimed to investigate the attitudes among clinicians, defined as physicians and prehospital personnel, towards the use of supplemental oxygen in trauma cases. ⋯ Almost three out of four clinicians did not support the administration of supplemental oxygen to all severely injured trauma patients, regardless of SpO2. This corresponds to a more restrictive approach than recommended in the current ATLS (2018, 10th ed.) guidelines.
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Thoracic injuries are prevalent in polytrauma patients, with road traffic accidents being a major cause. In India alone, over 400,000 people were injured in such accidents in 2022. Rib fractures, haemothorax, and pneumothorax are common chest injuries, often managed with tube thoracostomy. While standard procedures for chest tube placement are established, consensus on post-insertion management, particularly regarding negative pleural suction, is lacking. Research on this topic mostly pertains to planned thoracotomies rather than trauma cases. This study seeks to compare outcomes of slow negative suction versus conventional drainage in blunt or penetrating thoracic trauma. ⋯ Application of slow continuous negative pleural suction to chest tubes in patients of thoracic trauma can decrease the chest tube duration and the hospital stay. This study ought to be followed up with multicentric randomised clinical trials with larger sample sizes to better characterise the effects of slow continuous negative pleural suction.
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Trauma during pregnancy presents multifaceted risks to both the developing fetus and the expectant mother due to pregnancy-induced physiological adaptations that affect the response to traumatic injuries. The infrequent occurrence of cardiac arrest during pregnancy necessitates interventions such as perimortem cesarean section (PMCS), now termed resuscitative hysterotomy. While early resuscitative hysterotomy focused primarily on fetal survival, more recent literature reports substantial maternal benefits. Resuscitative hysterotomy can lead to the restoration of maternal pulse and blood pressure within minutes and has shown potential to improve maternal outcomes. RH has been demonstrated to aid in fetal and maternal survival in hemodynamic unstable pregnant patients before cardiovascular collapse. The linguistic change from PMCS to resuscitative hysterotomy is a shift towards maternal-centric approaches and survival. ⋯ RH in pregnant patients with traumatic injury and impending hemorrhagic shock or cardiovascular collapse may provide maternal survival benefits by supporting circulatory function and promoting resuscitation with no additional risks to fetal outcomes. Quick decision-making is crucial to the implementation of this life-saving procedure. Further research with a more significant number of patients is needed to validate the efficacy of RH in maximizing maternal survival. This case series adds to the evolving literature on RH, shedding light on practical aspects and maternal outcomes to inform ongoing discussions and strategies for maternal cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
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Surgical stabilization of rib fractures (SSRF) has been demonstrated to improve early clinical outcomes. Tube thoracostomy (TT) is commonly performed with SSRF, however there is a paucity of data regarding when removal of TT following SSRF should occur. This study aimed to compare patients undergoing thoracic reinterventions (reintubation, reinsertion of TT/pigtail, or video-assisted thoracic surgery) to those not following SSRF+TT, hypothesizing increased TT output prior to removal would be associated with thoracic reintervention. ⋯ This study demonstrated over 17 % of SSRF+TT patients required a thoracic reintervention. There was no association between thoracic reintervention and the TT output prior to removal. Future studies are needed to confirm these findings, which suggest no absolute threshold for TT output should be utilized regarding when to pull TT following SSRF.
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Resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA) serves as a bridging intervention for subsequent definitive haemorrhagic control. This study compared the clinical outcomes of REBOA and resuscitative thoracotomy (RT) in patients with bleeding below the diaphragm. ⋯ In cases of blunt trauma, prompt identification of the bleeding source is crucial. For patients with bleeding below the diaphragm, REBOA led to higher survival rates than did RT. However, it is important to consider the limitations of the database and the necessary exclusions from our analysis.