The American surgeon
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The American surgeon · Jul 2001
The impact of pre-existing end-stage renal disease on survival in acutely injured trauma patients.
End-stage renal disease and associated dialysis procedures alter homeostatic mechanisms and adversely affect the respiratory, cardiac, and central nervous systems. Currently outcomes research in acutely injured trauma patients utilizes Trauma and Injury Severity Score methodology with the Injury Severity Score and Revised Trauma Score, which do not account for comorbidities. Literature has yet to emerge that analyzes the effects of end-stage renal disease on acutely injured trauma patients. ⋯ A prospective multicentered study comparing renal patients with nonrenal patients is warranted. This would confirm the need for databases to account for the increased morbidity and mortality associated with end-stage renal disease when calculating probability of survival values for acutely injured trauma patients. Similarly future studies analyzing the affects of other comorbidities such as diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and hypertension on acutely injured trauma patients would help develop a more accurate method of predicting outcomes.
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The American surgeon · Jul 2001
Thermal injury in the elderly: when is comfort care the right choice?
The factors contributing to a higher mortality rate in elderly thermal injury victims are not well delineated. The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of the initial injury, medical comorbidities, and burn size on patient outcome and to determine a level of injury in this population when comfort care is an appropriate first choice. Individual medical records of patients over 65 years of age admitted to our burn center over a 10-year interval were reviewed for patient demographics, mechanism of injury, total body surface area (TBSA) burned, medical comorbidities, use of Swan-Ganz catheters, evidence of inhalation injury, level of support, and patient outcome. ⋯ Underlying medical problems--specifically chronic obstructive pulmonary disease--do play a role in increased patient morbidity and mortality. This study shows that age greater than 80 years in combination with burns greater than 40 per cent TBSA are uniformly fatal despite aggressive therapy. We believe that delaying the start of comfort-only measures in this situation only prolongs the pain and suffering for the patient, the family, and the physician.
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Although there are no Class I data supporting the regionalization of trauma care the consensus is that trauma centers decrease morbidity and mortality. However, the controversy continues over whether trauma surgeons should be in-house or take call from home. The current literature does not answer the question because in all of the recent studies the attendings who took call from home were in the resuscitation room guiding the care. ⋯ Also, we believe that it is important that there were no missed injuries, delays to the OR, or inappropriate workups when the attendings were present in the resuscitation room. This again speaks to the decision-making process. We believe that these data support the need for the attending to be present in the resuscitation room to facilitate accurate and timely decisions regardless of whether they take the call from home or in-house.
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Analysis of blood by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a more rapid and sensitive method to detect bacteremia than blood culture. The PCR was performed on blood obtained from patients during blood culture draws and on blood from normal volunteers. Eighty-seven patients provided 125 blood samples for blood culture comparison with PCR. ⋯ Only three of the 78 specimens with negative PCR had positive blood cultures. The PCR was negative in all but one of the 50 volunteers. PCR is more sensitive than blood culture, and it can quickly rule out bacteremia.
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This is a report of a 10-year experience (1989-1998) with 300 consecutive patients found to have an injury to a named abdominal vessel at the time of an exploratory laparotomy for trauma. An abdominal gunshot wound was the mechanism of injury in 78 per cent of patients, and injury to more than one named abdominal vessel was present in 42 per cent. The abdominal aorta, inferior vena cava, and external iliac artery and vein were the most commonly injured vessels. ⋯ Despite significantly increased Injury Severity Scores for patients treated from 1993 through 1998 as compared with those treated from 1989 through 1992 survival rates for patients with injuries to the abdominal aorta and inferior vena cava were unchanged. Survival rates for injuries to the external iliac artery and vein increased significantly. The local changes in management should be considered for prospective studies in other urban trauma centers.