Eur J Trauma Emerg S
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Eur J Trauma Emerg S · Dec 2008
Blunt Left Extrahepatic Bile Duct Injury: Case Report and Literature Review.
Extrahepatic biliary tract injuries following blunt abdominal trauma are very rare and pose a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. ⋯ In the setting of suspected biliary tract injury, early ERCP is essential to localize a leak and guide management decisions. In the event of a confirmed bile leak, a trial of nonoperative management consisting of endoscopic ductal decompression along with percutaneous drainage may initially be warranted although is not always successful.
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Eur J Trauma Emerg S · Dec 2008
Should Echogenic Material in the Urinary Bladder Noticed on FAST Preclude Urinary Catheter Insertion in a Trauma Patient Until Further Evaluation?
Serious urethral and bladder injuries are most often associated with severe blunt trauma. The most common diagnostic tool used to assess lower urinary tract injuries is a retrograde urethrogram. However, the decision to place a Foley catheter is often made on clinical grounds during initial stabilization phase of a trauma victim. If there is a clinical suspicion of a urethral injury, a Foley catheter should not be introduced until further evaluation is made. Focused abdominal sonography for trauma (FAST) is a major tool for primary evaluation of trauma victims. Treating trauma patients, we encountered an unusual "pick up", namely, blood clots in the urinary bladder in two patients. ⋯ We report on two cases of severely traumatized patients on which FAST examination detected an echogenic material in the bladder. This correlated with severe injuries to the urethra and urinary bladder. Moreover, ignorance of this finding in a patient without obvious clinical signs of urethral injury (Patient 1) led to a Foley catheter insertion, and as a consequence, a complex jatrogenic injury to the urethra. On the basis of this study, we hypothesize that the presence of an echogenic material on FAST examination should be considered blood until proven otherwise, and a urinary bladder catheter should not be passed, even in the absence of clinical signs of urethral injury. Since urogenital trauma is rare, this concept should be validated in the prospective study in a high-volume trauma center.
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Eur J Trauma Emerg S · Dec 2008
Bogota-VAC - A Newly Modified Temporary Abdominal Closure Technique.
We present Bogota-VAC, a newly modified temporary abdominal closure (TAC) technique for open abdomen condition after abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS). ⋯ The advantage of the presented Bogota-VAC is leak tightness, wound conditioning (soft tissue/fascia), skin protection and facilitation of nursing in combination with highest volume reserve capacity (VRC), thus preventing recurrent increased intra-abdominal and intracranial pressure in the initial phase after decompression of ACS compared to other TAC techniques.
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To assess the current stage of trauma system development and trauma surgery training in Europe. ⋯ Despite the great variation from country to country, three trends in developing trauma care and education can be identified: trauma system development based exclusively on major (life-threatening) trauma care (the old United States model), combining trauma and emergency surgery into a single regionalized system (the acute care surgery model), or maintaining the orthopedic surgery-orientated all-inclusive trauma care model as practiced in most central European countries today. Although each country and region might proceed along their own line depending on local circumstances, some kind of general guidelines and recommendations at least at the European Union level would be urgently needed.
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Due to the demographic developments worldwide, fragility fractures represent an increasing problem for the public health system. The risk of developing osteoporosis increases with age and is relatively higher in women and in the Caucasian population. The stability of bone is reduced because of accentuation of the normal loss of bone mass in ageing, leading to an increased susceptibility to fracture with an increased rate of complications after surgical stabilization. ⋯ At this stage, the trauma surgeon should initiate diagnostic procedures, treatment of osteoporosis and tertiary prevention according to the European guidelines. Ultimately, all female patients older than 50 years and all male patients older than 60 years with fractures should be assessed and treated for bone quality. Orthogeriatric specialists or interdisciplinary orthogeriatric teams should initiate a specific surgical treatment followed by early rehabilitation in order to allow the elderly patient to return to daily living as soon as possible.