Articles: trauma.
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There are concerns that airway management in patients with suspected or confirmed cervical spine injury may exacerbate an existing neurological deficit, cause a new spinal cord injury or be hazardous due to precautions to avoid neurological injury. However, there are no evidence-based guidelines for practicing clinicians to support safe and effective airway management in this setting. ⋯ It is hoped that the pragmatic approach to airway management made within these guidelines will improve the safety and efficacy of airway management in adult patients with suspected or confirmed cervical spine injury.
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Assigning trauma team activation (TTA) levels for trauma patients is a classification task that machine learning models can help optimize. However, performance is dependent on the "ground-truth" labels used for training. Our purpose was to investigate 2 ground truths, the Cribari matrix and the Need for Trauma Intervention (NFTI), for labeling training data. ⋯ To prioritize patient safety, Cribari+NFTI appears best for training a machine learning algorithm to predict the TTA level.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 2024
Association of Early Dexmedetomidine Utilization With Clinical Outcomes After Moderate-Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: A Retrospective Cohort Study.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an expensive and common public health problem. Management of TBI oftentimes includes sedation to facilitate mechanical ventilation (MV) for airway protection. Dexmedetomidine has emerged as a potential candidate for improved patient outcomes when used for early sedation after TBI due to its potential modulation of autonomic dysfunction. We examined early sedation patterns, as well as the association of dexmedetomidine exposure with clinical and functional outcomes among mechanically ventilated patients with moderate-severe TBI (msTBI) in the United States. ⋯ Dexmedetomidine is being utilized increasingly as a sedative for mechanically ventilated patients with msTBI. Early dexmedetomidine exposure may lead to improved patient outcomes in this population.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 2024
Perioperative Plasma in Addition to Red Blood Cell Transfusions Are Associated With Increased Venous Thromboembolism Risk Postoperatively.
Perioperative red blood cell (RBC) transfusions increase venous thromboembolic (VTE) events. Although a previous study found that plasma resuscitation after trauma was associated with increased VTE, the risk associated with additional perioperative plasma is unknown. ⋯ When compared with perioperative RBC transfusion, adding plasma was associated with increased 30-day postoperative mortality, VTE, PE, and DIC risk among surgical and cardiovascular surgical patients. Reducing unnecessary plasma transfusion should be a focus of patient blood management to improve overall value in health care.