Scand J Trauma Resus
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Nov 2014
ReviewContinuous positive airway pressure and noninvasive ventilation in prehospital treatment of patients with acute respiratory failure: a systematic review of controlled studies.
Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and noninvasive ventilation (NIV) are frequently used inhospital for treating respiratory failure, especially in treatment of acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema and exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Early initiation of treatment is important for success and introduction already in the prehospital setting may be beneficial. Our goal was to assess the evidence for an effect of prehospital CPAP or NIV as a supplement to standard medical treatment alone on the following outcome measures; mortality, hospital length of stay, intensive care unit length of stay, and intubation rate. ⋯ None of these studies have shown an effect on neither mortality nor intubation rate, but two small, randomized controlled trials show a reduction in intensive care unit length of stay and a trend toward lower intubation rate. The risk of both type two errors and publication bias is evident, and the findings are not consistent enough to make solid conclusion on supplemental prehospital NIV. Large, randomized controlled trials regarding the effect of NIV and CPAP as supplement to standard medical treatment alone, in the prehospital setting, are needed.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Nov 2014
Multicenter Study Observational StudyPerformance of IMPACT, CRASH and Nijmegen models in predicting six months outcome of patients with severe or moderate TBI: an external validation study.
External validation on different TBI populations is important in order to assess the generalizability of prognostic models to different settings. We aimed to externally validate recently developed models for prediction of six month unfavourable outcome and six month mortality. ⋯ In conclusion, all the prognostic models we validated in this study possess good discriminative ability for prediction of six month outcome in patients with moderate or severe TBI but outcomes were systemically better than predicted. After adjustment for this under prediction in locally adapted models, these may well be used for recent TBI patients.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Nov 2014
Multicenter StudyEvaluation of pre-hospital transport time of stroke patients to thrombolytic treatment.
Effective treatment of stroke is time dependent. Pre-hospital management is an important link in reducing the time from occurrence of stroke symptoms to effective treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate time used by emergency medical services (EMS) for stroke patients during a five-year period in order to identify potential delays and evaluate the reorganization of EMS in Copenhagen in 2009. ⋯ This study shows an unchanged alarm-to-door time of 41 minutes over a five-year period. Response time, but not total alarm-to-door time, was reduced during the five years. On-scene time constituted nearly half of the total alarm-to-door time and is thus a point of focus for improvement.
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Scand J Trauma Resus · Nov 2014
Multicenter StudyGeriatric hospitalizations in fall-related injuries.
To investigate the injury pattern, severity, and mortality of elderly patients hospitalized for treatment of trauma following fall accidents. ⋯ Analysis of the data indicates that elderly patients hospitalized for treatment of trauma following fall accidents present with a bodily injury pattern that differs from that of adult patients and have a higher severe injury score, worse outcome, and higher mortality than those of adult patients.