World journal of surgery
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World journal of surgery · Apr 2019
The Hybrid Electronic Medical Registry Allows Benchmarking of Quality of Trauma Care: A Five-Year Temporal Overview of the Trauma Burden at a Major Trauma Centre in South Africa.
This study is a five-year follow-up of previously published review of the trauma workload at our institution. It aims to provide evidence about the quality of trauma care delivered by a major academic trauma service in South Africa to provide a temporal analysis of trauma trends in the city of Pietermaritzburg. ⋯ The HEMR has allowed us to track the burden of trauma presenting to our institution over a five-year period. This confirms previous studies over shorter time periods from our institution. The pattern of trauma has remained consistent, and the previously described high levels show no sign of decreasing. Interventions to try and reduce this burden are urgently required.
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World journal of surgery · Apr 2019
Morbid Obesity's Silver Lining: An Armor for Hollow Viscus in Blunt Abdominal Trauma.
Morbid obesity is usually accompanied by both subcutaneous and visceral fat accumulation. Fat can mimic an air bag, absorbing the force of a collision. We hypothesized that morbid obesity is mechanically protective for hollow viscus organs in blunt abdominal trauma (BAT). ⋯ Obesity is protective in BAT. This translates into lower rates of GI tract injury and operation in morbidly obese patients. In contrast, underweight patients appear to suffer a higher rate of GI tract injury and associated GI operations.