J Trauma
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To describe the epidemiology of severe assault and gun injuries to children in an urban population and consider the impact of a comprehensive injury prevention program. ⋯ Comprehensive interventions may be effective in curbing the incidence of severe assault injuries to urban youth. Further controlled evaluations are needed to confirm the effectiveness of programs such as this and to better understand the prevention of violent injuries.
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This study summarizes all 2,550 trauma-related rural ambulance trip reports filed for the period January 1 through December 31, 1991 from the 12 rural counties surrounding Augusta, Georgia. There were 13.1 trauma-related ambulance runs per 1,000 population. Nearly one third of all rural ambulance runs are trauma related. ⋯ Only 51.5% of runs had a rural hospital as a destination, 14.2% went directly to a trauma center, and nearly 20% to another urban hospital. Of the 71 severe trauma cases received by ambulance, rural hospitals transferred out only 13 cases, most of these to the regional trauma center. Of the 47 trauma cases transferred to the trauma center, 33 were not severe.
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To determine the relationship between the prognosis of seriously injured patients requiring emergency surgery and intraoperative end-tidal CO2 variables and "excess Pco2." ⋯ Values derived from the end-tidal CO2 and the excess Pco2 should be monitored intraoperatively in critically injured patients. Efforts should be made to improve cardiac output and adjust ventilation to maintain an end-tidal Pco2 of 25 mm Hg or more, an arterial to end-tidal CO2 difference of 12 mm Hg or less, and an excess Paco2 of 1.0 mm Hg or less.
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Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibition has been shown to potentiate lipopolysaccharide (LPS) associated pulmonary hypertension, which may worsen right ventricular (RV) dysfunction and decrease cardiac output during sepsis. This study evaluates whether inhaled nitric oxide can ameliorate the adverse cardiopulmonary effects of NOS inhibition during endotoxemia. ⋯ Inhaled nitric oxide reverses pulmonary hypertension seen with L-NAME treatment during endotoxemia and may be a useful adjunct to NOS inhibition in the treatment of septic shock.
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Outcomes analysis of patient care programs has become increasingly necessary for a variety of reasons in recent years. This has been particularly true for trauma programs. The Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS) methodology was developed for this purpose in the context of the Major Trauma Outcome Study (MTOS). ⋯ The new coefficients were subsequently validated by applying them to a subsequent year's data from patient records that did not form part of the original data set. This resulted in slightly improved z scores overall, and in most of the hospitals. This use of regional norms allows comparison with outcomes of patients cared for in hospitals within the same jurisdiction that are more similar to one another than to those in the MTOS, and helps to identify unexpected outcomes and outliers.