J Trauma
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Maintenance of an airway in the air medically transported patient is of paramount importance. The purpose of this study is to compare preflight versus en route rapid sequence intubation (RSI)-assisted intubations and to determine the value of air medical use of RSI. ⋯ Air medical intubations, both preflight and en route, for both scene calls and interhospital transports, can be done with a very high success rate. Rapid sequence intubation may improve the success rate. For scene calls, there was a significant decrease in ground time, and there was a trend toward fewer multiple intubation attempts when the patient was intubated en route instead of preflight.
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Multicenter Study
Percutaneous computed tomographic-controlled ventriculostomy in severe traumatic brain injury.
Percutaneous computed tomographic (CT)-controlled ventriculostomy (PCV) was introduced for the monitoring of intracranial pressure in patients with severe traumatic brain injury who did not require simultaneous decompressive trepanation. ⋯ Distinct time savings are the major advantages of PCV, allowing exact catheter positioning even with very narrow ventricles.
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It is essential to identify patients at high risk of death and complications for future studies of interventions to decrease reperfusion injury. ⋯ Hemorrhage-induced hypotension in trauma patients is predictive of high mortality (54%) and morbidity. The requirement for large volumes of crystalloid was associated with increased mortality.
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(1) To compare left ventricular stroke work index (SW) and left ventricular power output (LVP), hemodynamic variables that encompass blood pressure as well as blood flow, with the purely flow-derived hemodynamic and oxygen transport variables as markers of perfusion and outcome in critically injured patients during resuscitation. (2) To use the ventricular pressure-volume diagram to define characteristic hemodynamic patterns in the determinants of SW and LVP that are associated with survival. ⋯ Thermodynamic perfusion variables that encompass both pressure and flow, such as SW and LVP, are more closely related to perfusion and outcome than the purely flow-derived variables. The higher SW and LVP in survivors is related to better ventricular-arterial coupling, and therefore more efficient cardiac function. Cutoff values for LVP of 320 mm Hg x L x min(-1) x m(-2) and for SW of 4,000 mm Hg x mL x m(-2) may be useful thresholds for evaluating hemodynamic performance during resuscitation.
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To study the viability, reliability, and validity of the Spanish version of the Burn-Specific Health Scale. ⋯ The Spanish version of the Burn-Specific Health Scale is a reliable and valid instrument for use in the Spanish population, and its results are perfectly comparable with those obtained in the original English version.