The American surgeon
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The American surgeon · Dec 2013
The impact of age on mortality in patients in extremis undergoing urgent intervention.
Trauma patients admitted without vital signs have little hope of survival even with extreme interventions. We performed this study to determine the effect of age on survival in patients in extremis undergoing urgent thoracotomy. The National Trauma Database was searched for patients presenting without a systolic blood pressure (0), a Glasgow Coma Scale score less than 8, and underwent an urgent thoracotomy. ⋯ However, neither pediatric (P = 0.418) nor older status (P = 0.184) was predictive. Age does not significantly impact mortality in patients in extremis who undergo urgent thoracotomy. Age should not be a contributing factor in determining who should undergo more extreme maneuvers if they present as a reasonable candidate using other criteria.