American journal of surgery
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Hypertonic saline-dextran solutions for the prehospital management of traumatic hypotension.
We report the results of the first clinical study on the use of a hypertonic saline-dextran solution for the prehospital management of hypotensive victims of penetrating trauma. During a 4-month period, 48 trauma patients with penetrating injuries and a prehospital systolic blood pressure of 90 mm Hg or less were infused in-field with 250 ml of either a hypertonic saline-dextran solution or the crystalloid plasmalyte A. There were no complications associated with the infusion of the hypertonic saline-dextran solution, and execution of the protocol by paramedic personnel was both safe and uniformly successful. The potential impact of this solution on medical care and the results of this feasibility study justify the initiation of a larger prospective, randomized clinical trial on the efficacy of this solution in the prehospital setting.
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Prehospital and emergency room recordings of hemodynamic vital signs frequently play a major role in the evaluation and treatment of trauma victims. Guidelines for resuscitation and treatment are affected by absolute cutoffs in hemodynamic parameters. ⋯ Although the sensitivity of vital signs in identifying this group of patients improved as the variance from normal increased, standard cutoffs were relatively insensitive. We conclude that normal postinjury vital signs do not predict the absence of potentially life-threatening hemorrhage and abnormal vital signs at any point after injury require investigation to rule out significant blood loss.
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Comparative Study
Empyema thoracis in patients undergoing emergent closed tube thoracostomy for thoracic trauma.
The vast majority of thoracic trauma victims require only observation or tube thoracostomy for definitive treatment of their thoracic injury. Although tube thoracostomy is generally considered a limited intervention, 2 to 25 percent of patients who undergo this procedure develop infectious complications. To determine the incidence and risk factors for the development of empyema thoracis after tube thoracostomy, a retrospective study was undertaken. We found that the development of empyema thoracis was increased in patients whose pleural space was incompletely drained and whose thoracic catheters were in place for a prolonged period.