Der Unfallchirurg
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Since their approval in Germany in June 2019 e‑scooters have become increasingly more popular; however, with growing popularity and easy access for everybody the number of accidents has increased, sometimes even resulting in severe injuries. ⋯ Due to the growing popularity of e‑scooter use more injuries have been registered. The head was the most affected body region, therefore emphasis should be put on wearing a helmet. Furthermore, strict rules and more police controls should take place to identify and reduce the number of accident victims under the influence of alcohol.
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Intensive care and ventilator capacities are essential for treatment of COVID-19 patients. Severely injured patients are often in continuous need of intensive care and ventilator treatment. The question arises, whether restrictions related to COVID-19 have led to a decrease in severely injured patients and thus to an increase in intensive care unit (ICU) capacity. ⋯ Restrictions related to COVID-19 did not lead to a reduction in seriously injured patients needing ICU care. Due to the monocentric data analysis there is room for misinterpretation. In general, intensive care and operating capacities should be managed with adequate consideration for seriously injured patients even in times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Confirmation through the German Trauma Register is pending.
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For decades projection radiography has been the standard in the diagnostics of fractures and injuries, including patients in childhood and adolescent; however, each examination with X‑rays should also be based on an individual assessment of the benefits and risks. The pediatric traumatology section of the DGU has developed a consensus paper on various aspects of imaging for diagnostics and assessment of progression, on setting options for intraoperative imaging, on X‑ray imaging of the opposite side, on polytrauma and computed tomography (CT), on postoperative radiological checks and the use of sonography after an accident.
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The corona crisis of 2020 posed previously unknown challenges to hospitals providing acute care. In addition to the treatment of COVID-19 patients, universities and other acute care hospitals had to provide emergency medical care, including for patients undergoing trauma surgery. The challenge was that no reliable planning figures were available regarding the expected volume for such a crisis situation and therefore no reliable resource planning was possible in this respect. Therefore, the aim of this work was to record the incidence of polytrauma and other injuries during the pandemic crisis in a university trauma surgery clinic and to compare it with the years 2017-2019. ⋯ Even in exceptional situations such as the corona pandemic, there were a significant number of patients in need of acute treatment, especially polytrauma patients. This should be considered in the future in the event of similar exceptional situations in the inpatient care framework when providing trauma surgery care capacities.
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Case Reports
[Successful treatment of a geriatric COVID-19 patient with severe chest trauma : An interdisciplinary case report].
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread rapidly worldwide and leads to high morbidity and mortality. Clinical experience regarding the surgical management in COVID-19 patients is limited. We report the interdisciplinary approach in a COVID-19 patient with severe thoracic trauma and pulmonary symptoms, who was admitted to the emergency unit after blunt chest trauma with dislocated serial rib fractures and concomitant hemothorax.