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A case of multiple injury is reported in a young 35-year-old man affecting three different areas of the body which showed a septic-type development. Complete recovery was largely determined by the accuracy of the preoperative diagnosis and the correct maintenance of hemodynamic parameters.
BACKGROUND: In multiple trauma patients, early continuous cardiac output (CCO) monitoring is frequently desired but is difficult to routinely employ in most emergency departments because it requires invasive procedures. Recently, a noninvasive cardiac output (NICO) technique based on the Fick principle and partial CO2 rebreathing has shown promise under a variety of conditions. Since this method has not been tested after lung damage, we evaluated its utility in a clinically relevant model. METHODS: Anesthetized, ventilated swine (n = 11, 35-45 kg) received a unilateral blunt trauma via a captive bolt gun followed by a 25% hemorrhage. After 60 min of shock, crystalloid resuscitation was given as needed to maintain heart rate < 100 beats/min and mean arterial pressure > 70 mm Hg. Standard CCO by thermodilution (Baxter Vigilance, Irvine, CA) was compared with NICO (Novametrix Medical Systems Inc., Wallingford, CT) for 8 hr. RESULTS: The severity of the injury is reflected by seven deaths (average survival time = 4.25 hr). Trauma increased dead space ventilation (19%), airway resistance (30%), and lactate (3.2 mmol/L), and decreased dynamic compliance (48%) and Pao2/Fio2 (54%). In these extreme conditions, the time course and magnitude of change of CCO and NICO were superimposed. Bland-Altman analysis reveal a bias and precision of 0.01 +/- 0.69 liters/min. The linear relationship between individual CCO and NICO values was significant (p < 0.0001) and was described by the equation NICO = (0.74 +/- 0.1)CCO + (0.65 +/- 0.16 liters/min) but the correlation coefficient (r2 = 0.541) was relatively low. The cause for the low correlation could not be attributed to increased pulmonary shunt, venous desaturation, anemia, hypercapnia, increased dead space ventilation, or hyperlactacidemia. CONCLUSION: NICO correlated with thermodilution CCO, but underestimated this standard by 26% in extreme laboratory conditions of trauma-induced cardiopulmonary dysfunction; 95% of the NICO values fall within 1.38 liters/min of CCO; and with further improvements, NICO may be useful in multiple trauma patients requiring emergency intubation during initial assessment and workup.
The authors observed and helped 157 patients with multiple trauma of the chest. Trauma shock was observed in 97 of them. A clinical classification of such injuries is proposed. Main combinations of injuries of internal organs have been found. Surgical tactics is considered.
Although multiple trauma remains the leading cause of death among children, fewer resources and less attention have been directed to treatment of the injured child than to treatment of the injured adult. Insufficient training of medical personnel and hence lack of expertise in the management of injured children are factors contributing to disability and death in such children. Although the principles of resuscitation of injured children are similar to those for adults, appreciation of the differences in cardiorespiratory variables, airway anatomy, response to blood loss, thermoregulation and equipment required is essential for successful initial resuscitation. Cerebral, abdominal and thoracic injuries account for most of the disability and death among injured children. Cerebral damage may be due to secondary injuries to the brain and is potentially preventable. The need to preserve the spleen in children complicates the management of abdominal trauma. Although children usually have large cardiorespiratory reserves, they are likely to need airway control and ventilation with thoracic injuries. The psychologic effect of trauma may pose long-term problems and needs close follow-up.
238 patients with multiple trauma hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit of the Zagreb General Hospital during 1993 and 1994 were analyzed. They were grouped with respect to the type of their injury. The first group was composed of patients with isolated head injury. The second group was made up of patients with multiple trauma and head injury. Patients with multiple trauma but without head injury were inserted into group three. 138 patients were comatose (GCS < 8) and had to be reanimated. 143 patients underwent an urgent surgical procedure. Assisted ventilation over 24 hours needed 180 patients (average of 11,4 days). The most common complications were respiratory: pneumonia developed 60 and ARDS five patients. The rate of mortality was 35,9% (65 patients died.
External laryngeal traumas are rare but clinically can cause important life-threatening injuries. We report the case of a 33 yeras old male who suffered a severe traffic accident: TCE, facial trauma with multiple fractures and laryngeal trauma with fracture of the thyroid cartilage and the hyoid bone. Because an important edema in the airway, it was not possible an orotracheal intubation and he required urgent coniotomy with later reconstruction surgery and tracheostomy. Actually our patient has been decanulated and the fibroscopic image of the larynx and its functionality is correct.
Multiple injuries in elderly patients are still a common problem. The present study was performed to investigate mortality and complications in multiple trauma patients aged 65 years or more. A total of 1154 multiple trauma patients with an injury severity score (ISS) of at least 18 points were divided in two age groups: Y: 16-64 years, n = 1022; O: 65-94 years, n = 132. Older patients were injured as pedestrians in most cases (69%), while younger patients were more frequently injured as car and drivers passengers (41%). ISS was comparable in both groups (Y 28 +/- 1, O 27 +/- 1). During ICU-therapy incidence of ARDS (Y 10%, O 11%), multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MOF; Y 6%, O 9%) and pneumonia (Y 17%, O 21%) were comparable. In contrast, septic complications were more frequent in older patients (Y 19%, O 27%). Length of ICU stay (Y 19 +/- 2, O 18 +/- 1) and ventilation time (Y 14 +/- 2, O 17 +/- 1) were comparable. Mortality was significantly higher in older patients (Y 15%, O 53%). The major cause of death was sepsis in older patients (Y 15%, O 31%) and MOF in younger patients (Y 54%, O 29%). In conclusion, older trauma patients had a higher mortality due to the development of septical complications.
In multiple trauma patients successful treatment of femur shaft fractures depends more on timing of osteosynthesis than on choosing a specific type of fracture stabilization. Because of theoretical and practical reasons early osteosynthesis within 24 to 48 hours seems to be advantageous. In our experience it led to a significant decrease in complications. However, concomitant thorax trauma mandates special consideration. The two fatalities in our study belonged to this subgroup. With adequate indication for therapeutic intervention, correct operative technique and consideration of the patient's general status good results can be expected with every type of fracture treatment available (external fixation, plate fixation, intramedullary nailing).
OBJECTIVE: To determine glucose balance during dextrose-free continuous hemodiafiltration with or without dextrose-containing ultrafiltrate replacement fluid and full nutritional support. DESIGN: Prospective, nonrandomized, observational study. SETTING: A 24-bed multiple trauma critical care unit in a level-I trauma center. PATIENTS: Seventeen multiple trauma patients with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome requiring hemodialysis for acute renal failure. INTERVENTIONS: Continuous hemodiafiltration effluent volume and glucose concentration were measured. Study days were classified according to whether dextrose was used in the ultrafiltrate replacement therapy. Use of dextrose in replacement therapy was determined clinically. Parenteral nutrition was not altered for potential glucose absorption from continuous hemodiafiltration. Ultrafiltrate replacement consisted of 5% dextrose in saline on 21 study days (D5YES) and dextrose-free solutions on 54 study days (D5NO). RESULTS: The D5YES group received 316 +/- 145 g glucose/day from the ultrafiltrate replacement fluid, in addition to glucose in total parenteral nutrition (total glucose intake = 942 +/- 229 g/day in D5YES, 682 +/- 154 g/day in D5NO) (p < 0.05). Glucose loss in continuous hemodiafiltration effluent was 82 +/- 61 g/day in D5YES and 57 +/- 22 g/day in D5NO (P < 0.05), for a net glucose uptake of 8.1 +/- 2.1 mg/kg per min in D5YES and 5.4 +/- 1.5 mg/kg per min in D5NO (p < 0.05). Glucose loss was predictable when dialysate and ultrafiltrate replacement fluids were dextrose-free (R2 = 0.77), but less so when dextrose was used as ultrafiltrate replacement (R2 = 0.47). CONCLUSION: Dextrose-free dialysate promotes glucose loss during continuous hemodiafiltration, but the loss is small and predictable. Use of a dextrose-containing ultrafiltrate replacement fluid results in a significant increase in glucose intake without a commensurate increase in glucose loss, and makes glucose loss in effluent less predictable.
BACKGROUND: There are controversies on determination of trauma severity and on predicting effects of trauma severity on organism in patients with multiple trauma. It is of great importance to rule out these controversies in Turkey where incidence of multiple trauma due to traffic accidents is considerably high. The aim of our study was to investigate whether a correlation exists between trauma severity and plasma levels of nitric oxide and thiobarbituric acid reactive substance in patients with multiple trauma. METHODS: The patients with multiple trauma were divided into two groups as the study group (TRISS score 30 or above) and the control group (TRISS score below 30) and the relationship between plasma NO and TBARS levels was evaluated. In our study, we used the TRISS trauma score (Revised Trauma Score, Injury Severity Score and Age Combination Index) to evaluate trauma severity. RESULTS: There was no effect of trauma severity on plasma NO levels (p > 0.05). There was a positive correlation between TRISS scores and plasma TBARS levels (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: It can be suggested that measurement of plasma NO levels is not useful to indicate trauma severity because change in TRISS is not associated with a correlated change in plasma NO levels. On the other hand, there is a significant correlation between plasma TBARS levels and increase in trauma severity.
OBJECTIVE: To revise a series of multiple abdominal trauma in order to evaluate the type of diagnosis process and therapy undertaken, the complication and patient survival rates. PATIENTS: Three hundred ten patients of whom 294 (94.8%) with a single abdominal organ injury associated or not with trauma of extra-abdominal organs (thorax, mediastinum, brain, bone) and 16 patients with a multiple abdominal injury (2 or more organs) associated or not with trauma of extra-abdominal organs. Age, gender, vital parameters, injury dynamics, number of organs, site of injury, Injury Severity Score (ISS), Abdominal Trauma Index (ATI) and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) have been recorded at admission. RESULTS: Multiple abdominal trauma represent 5% of all abdominal trauma. All trauma were closed ones: 14 street accident and 2 precipitations. A non operative management was undertaken in 6 patients, successfully completed in 2, while 4 patients required a surgical intervention to control bleeding within 12 hours of observation. Ten patients underwent immediate operation for unstable vital signs. The mean number of abdominal organs damaged was 2.8/patient. The mortality rate was 43.7% (7/16). All patients died during surgery. By comparing dead and surviving patient, initial haemodynamics and severity of ISS, GCS, and ATI scores were significant negative prognostic factors. The median length of hospitalisation of survivors was 12 days. CONCLUSIONS: Non operative management of multiple abdominal injury seems to be feasible in a small percentage and possibly only in selected cases.
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Multiple-trauma patients are at increased risk for deep venous thrombosis (DVT) but are also at increased risk of bleeding, and the use of heparin may be contraindicated. Sequential pneumatic compression devices (SCDs) are an alternative for DVT prophylaxis. However, lower extremity fracture or soft tissue injury may preclude their use. In these circumstances, foot pumps (FPs) are often substituted, yet little clinical data exist to support their use. We identified 184 consecutive high-risk trauma patients who received DVT prophylaxis with compression devices. We reviewed demographic data, mechanism of injury, Injury Severity Score, injury pattern, and method of prophylaxis. Generally, SCDs were preferred, but FPs were substituted in patients with lower extremity injuries. Occurrences of DVT or pulmonary embolism were also noted. Patients surviving less than 48 hours were excluded. SCDs were used in 118 patients (64%) and FPs in 66 patients (34%). There were no differences in age, Injury Severity Score, or presence of shock on admission. As expected, FP patients were more likely to have lower extremity fractures (65 vs 26%; P < 0.05) and were also more likely to have associated pelvic fracture (59 vs 25%; P < 0.05) and chest injury (61 vs 26%, P < 0.05). There was no difference in the incidence of head injury, although SCD patients had more severe head injuries (Glasgow Coma Score, 7.9 vs 10.5; P < 0.05). The overall incidence of DVT was 5.4 per cent (10 of 184), with no differences between the two groups (SCD 7% vs FP 3%). Three patients had a pulmonary embolism (FP, two; SCD, one), none of which were fatal. Compression devices provide adequate DVT prophylaxis with a low failure rate (3-8%) and no device-related complications. FPs appear to be a reasonable alternative in the high-risk trauma patient when lower extremity fractures precludes use of SCD.
The belief that trauma may precede or exacerbate multiple sclerosis (MS) has come primarily from anecdotal reports and case series that provide no rates and no basis for critical comparison. Each year in the United States, approximately 10,000 persons develop MS. A high proportion of the estimated 250,000 prevalence cases have one or more exacerbations, whereas one-third (or 83,000,000 persons in the United States) suffer a memorable injury; therefore, when trauma precedes MS onset or exacerbation, coincidence, as well as causal association, must be considered. For many patients, MS disability may have precipitated an injury, rather than follow one. Two major prospective cohort studies of MS indicate that physical trauma is not responsible for onset or exacerbation. A prospective cohort of patients with MS followed for eight years at the University of Arizona has failed to demonstrate an association between physical trauma and exacerbation. At the Mayo Clinic, cohorts identified in the Olmsted County, Minnesota population with MS, head injury (819), and lumbar disk surgery (942) demonstrated no correlation between onset or exacerbation of MS. Thus, on the basis of credible epidemiological studies, and particularly the studies of cohorts with MS and with trauma, there is no indication that either onset or exacerbation of MS is the result of physical trauma.
OBJECTIVE: Functional links among the brain, endocrine and immune system have been described previously. An impairment of both immunological defence mechanisms and thyroid hormone turnover was present in trauma conditions. An investigation on the relevance of thymulin and thyroid hormones in multiple trauma patients with or without head injury has been performed. The role of these hormones as predictive factors for patients outcome was also evaluated. DESIGN: Plasma thymulin levels and plasma thyroid hormone concentrations were tested in multiple trauma patients 24 h after admission to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and again after 5 and 10 days. SETTING: Department of Immunology Ctr. INRCA, IInd ICU, S. Matteo Hospital Pavia and ICU "Umberto I" Hospital, Ancona. PATIENTS: 45 patients were evaluated including 14 multiple trauma patients without head injury and 31 multiple trauma patients with head injury at various level of coma, graded according to the Glascow Coma Score (GCS). INTERVENTIONS: Routine protocol interventions were performed in all head injured patients. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Thymulin and triiodothyronine (T3) levels were reduced, and reverse triiodothyronine (rT3) increased in all traumatized patients, but multiple trauma patients with head injury and GCS < or = 5 had the lowest levels of thymulin and T3 and the highest levels of rT3. No difference in plasma thyroxine (T4) and thyrotropin (TSH) levels was observed among injured patients. The analysis of predictive factors for the outcome has assigned to thymulin the highest score (29.6%) compared with the score for T3 (19.3%) and rT3 (26.3%). The total relative risk (delta %) calculated on the basis of T3 or rT3 rises significantly when thymulin relative risk is added. CONCLUSIONS: Thymulin is markedly reduced in multiple trauma patients with head injury and it represents a predictive factor for the outcome better than the one deriving from the single measurements restricted to thyroid hormones.
The incidence of hand injuries in multiple trauma is not well investigated. Between 1980 and 1986, 782 multiple trauma patients received primary treatment at the University Hospital of Erlangen. At the time of the study, 22% (n = 173) of these patients had died. 93% of the patients met with a traffic accident. In 20% of the multiple trauma patients, additional hand injuries were seen. 75% of these injuries were closed fractures of hand and wrist. The severity of multiple trauma had no influence on the incidence of hand injury. Young people between twenty and fourty years of age were mostly affected in multiple trauma, with increased incidence of hand injuries especially after motorcycle accidents. Delay of diagnosis of hand injuries was rare.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the incidence and distribution of heterotopic ossifications in patients with blunt multiple trauma with and without associated head trauma. DESIGN: Retrospective. SETTING: Level I trauma center. PATIENTS: Patients were included if they were treated between August 1987 and September 1995. Inclusion criteria included age between 16 and 65 years, injury severity score (ISS) of more than twenty points, and clinical reexamination performed more than three years after the initial injury. METHODS: The records of each patient were abstracted to determine the ISS, the Glasgow coma score (GCS), and parameters describing the course of intensive care. For each patient, a reexamination was performed between January and September 1998. Patients with multiple trauma and associated head trauma (Group PTH, polytrauma, GCS less than nine points, and head computed tomography scan abnormalities) and patients with multiple trauma without associated head trauma (Group PT, polytrauma, GCS of at least nine points, and normal head computed tomography scans) were compared. A clinical reexamination was performed to evaluate functional outcome. RESULTS: Sixty-four patients belonged to Group PTH and 124 patients belonged to Group PT. There were no differences in the age (Group PTH, 28.9 +/- 1.6 years; Group PT, 29.2 +/- 2.1 years) or severity of injury (ISS Group PTH, 31.0 +/- 5.3 points; ISS Group PT, 33.0 +/- 6.1 points) among patients in the two groups. The overall incidence of periarticular heterotopic ossification was comparable in patients with multiple trauma with and without head injury (Group PTH, 30 of 64 patients [46.9 percent]; Group PT, 53 of 124 patients [42.7 percent]). The duration of ventilation was significantly higher in Group PT (Group PTH, 9.3 +/- 2.4 days; Group PT, 14.2 +/- 3.1 days; p = 0.02). In the subgroups in which heterotopic ossification developed (PT-HO and PTH-HO), patients in PT-HO had a significantly higher incidence of heterotopic ossification, as compared with patients in PTH-HO at initially uninjured joints (Group PTH-HO, 1 of 30 patients [3.3 percent]; Group PT-HO, 10 of 53 patients [18.9 percent]; p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: There was a high incidence of heterotopic ossification around those joints that were initially classified as uninjured in patients without head trauma. This finding suggests that pathogenic pathways independent of head trauma, such as long-term ventilation, play a main role. Causative factors for the development of heterotopic ossification at initially uninjured joints in long-term ventilated patients with multiple trauma with and without head trauma remain to be elucidated.
The therapeutic concept of limb salvage or immediate amputation is controversial in patients with multiple trauma. Sixty-three multiple trauma patients (injury severity score ISS > 18 patients) with blunt arterial injuries were investigated. Twenty-seven had injuries of the upper limb and 36 patients of the lower limb. In 33 cases a limb salvage procedure was performed (group I), while in 30 cases the limb was amputated (group II). Neither group showed a significant difference in age (I: 33 +/- 3, II: 30 +/- 3 years), ISS (I: 30 +/- 2, II: 29 +/- 2 patients), time of ischemia (I: 238 +/- 30, II: 203 +/- 20 min) ICU stay (I: 18 +/- 4, II: 19 +/- 4 days). Lethality and morbidity were slightly increased in group I (death: I: n = 8; II: n = 4; MOF: I: n = 5; II: n = 3; Sepsis: I: n = 11, II: n = 4). No differences were found in the incidence of local infections (I: n = 12, II: n = 10). Secondary amputations were performed in 7 patients after 12 +/- 2 days (range 3-40; median: 5 days). We conclude that limb salvage did not increase the risk for severe complications. Lethality and morbidity were related to the severity of the injury. To prevent complications, secondary amputations had to be performed early.