J Trauma
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Fractures of the femur caused by gunshots are increasingly common. There is no standard treatment of these fractures since there are no clear guidelines relating these injuries to open fracture classification. We reviewed our experience with such fractures, which included 65 patients who had an immediate reamed intramedullary nail placed as treatment. ⋯ We found that all patients healed with no infections. The overall morbidity and average hospital stay were decreased compared with studies advocating delayed intramedullary nailing and prolonged intravenous antibiotics. We recommend that patients with fractures of the femur caused by gunshots are candidates for immediate reamed intramedullary nailing providing that there is only mild to moderate soft-tissue contamination and no evidence of major devitalization.
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Recent papers from established trauma centers reported average elapsed times from emergency department (ED) admission to the operating room (OR) of greater than 100 minutes for patients judged to be in immediate need of surgery. This study was undertaken to determine whether patients treated at an institution desiring level II trauma center designation in a geographic area with a low incidence of penetrating trauma suffered any adverse effects because of lack of a 24-hour in-house OR staff. Trauma registry data at The Stamford Hospital, a suburban community teaching hospital without OR nursing staff in-house at night, were reviewed and compared with data from three affiliated level I trauma centers and with established national standards using TRISS methodology. ⋯ No unexpected adverse outcomes could be ascribed to the lack of 24-hour OR staffing in this setting. The estimated cost of providing additional OR staffing is $145,000 per year. Since times to the OR and outcomes were similar to those at level I centers, this expense may not be warranted.
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One hundred hemodynamically stable patients with penetrating abdominal trauma (65, stab wounds, 35, gunshot wounds) were evaluated with laparoscopy. Sixty percent of the patients had wounds in the thoracoabdominal area or the upper abdominal quadrants and 25% had injuries located in the lower abdomen and flanks. Fifteen percent had epigastric wounds. ⋯ The major role of laparoscopy in penetrating abdominal trauma is in avoiding unnecessary laparotomy in tangential SWs and GSWs. It is excellent for evaluating the diaphragm in thoracoabdominal wounds. Caution is urged in excluding hollow viscus injuries based on laparoscopy.
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Trauma outcome variables before and after the institution of the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) program were compared for the largest hospital in Trinidad and Tobago from July 1981 through December 1985 (pre-ATLS) and from January 1986 to June 1990 (post-ATLS). A total of 199 physicians were ATLS trained by June 1990. Outcome data were analyzed for all dead or severely injured patients (ISS > or = 16; n = 413 pre-ATLS and n = 400 post-ATLS). ⋯ Although there was a higher percentage of blunt injury pre-ATLS (84.0%) versus post-ATLS (68.3%), the mortality rates for both blunt and penetrating injuries were higher in the pre-ATLS group (19.7% pre-ATLS vs. 6.3% post-ATLS for penetrating and 76.6% pre-ATLS versus 46.2% post-ATLS for blunt). For each ISS category, mortality was greater in the pre-ATLS group (ISS > or = 24 pre-ATLS mortality 47.9% vs. 16.7% post-ATLS; ISS 25-40 pre-ATLS mortality 91.0% vs. 71.0% post-ATLS). The overall ratio of observed to expected mortality based on the MTOS data base was lower for the post-ATLS period (pre-ATLS ratio 3.16; post-ATLS ratio 1.94).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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Since the development of surgical critical care (SCC) as a discrete body of knowledge and its recognition by the American Board of Surgery (ABS), it has been beset by several controversies. One controversy is that the Residency Review Committee (RRC) for Surgery mandated that approved SCC training be 1 year long with no operative experience. A survey was conducted to determine the opinions and experiences on this controversy and others of 498 surgeons who regularly practice SCC. ⋯ Two thirds disagreed with the RRC's ban on operative experience during SCC fellowships and 71% believed that this prohibition limited the pool of surgical applicants to SCC programs. There were no significant differences in the responses between any of the major subgroups. Interestingly, 50% of the respondents who had completed RRC-approved SCC fellowships stated that their fellowship included operative experience.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)