European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society
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Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg · Dec 2023
How does trauma secondary to unexpected extreme weather affect orthopaedic surgery departments? An epidemiological study on the Filomena snowstorm.
Trauma secondary to extreme weather events may heavily impact the normal activity of orthopaedic surgery departments, especially in places not prepared to deal with them. The Filomena snowstorm, which happened in January 2021, has been one of the greatest snowstorms ever in Spain. During it, the constant influx of trauma patients made the Orthopaedic Emergencies Department (OED) to collapse. The primary objective of this study was to describe the orthopaedic injuries and changes in fracture's epidemiology observed during this exceptional period. Secondary objectives were to analyse the collected variables in order to minimize the future impact of these unexpected extreme weather events. ⋯ Unexpected snowstorms entail an exponential rise in orthopaedic care demand and OED pressures. A significant increment in orthopaedic trauma surgery, up to 168% more, particularly distal radius, proximal humerus and ankle fractures it is to be expected, which will imply elective surgery cancellation, damaging patients and increasing costs.
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Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg · Dec 2023
Observational StudyRisk factors affecting severe thoracic injuries in motor vehicle collisions based on age group and collision directions.
This study aimed to investigate the effect of age and collision direction on the severity of thoracic injuries based on a real-world crash database. ⋯ The risk of severe thoracic injury is high in near-side collisions among elderly occupants. However, the risk of injury for elderly occupants increases in a super-aging society. To reduce thoracic injury, safety features made for elderly occupants in near-side collisions are required.
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Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg · Dec 2023
Functional assessment and outcome following surgical treatment of displaced tibial plateau fractures: a retrospective analysis.
Patients with tibial plateau fractures (TPF) are at risk of long-term hampered bipedal locomotion. A retrospective single-center study using patient-related outcome measures and a sophisticated assessment of walking abilities was conducted. ⋯ Outcome after an isolated TPF is neither related to fracture type, severity of the fracture nor time from injury. Simple gait analysis techniques relying on different tasks appear to yield a more sophisticated image on functional deficits after TPF than classical exam of ground-level walking and correlate quite well with validated patient-related outcome measures as the KOOS.