J Trauma
-
Scapular fractures in the multiply injured patient have received little attention. Fifty-six patients with 58 scapular fractures secondary to blunt trauma were reviewed. The patients averaged 3.9 major injuries excluding their scapular fractures. ⋯ Eight patients died (14.3%). Although no patient died from the scapular fracture, half of the deaths in this series were the result of pulmonary sepsis arising in an associated ipsilateral pulmonary contusion. Scapular fractures provide the trauma surgeon with a reliable clinical clue that the patient is at inordinate risk to have associated injuries of major consequence to the ipsilateral lung and chest wall, the ipsilateral shoulder girdle, and the ipsilateral subclavian, axillary, or brachial artery.
-
Comparative Study
Limitations of computed tomography in the evaluation of acute abdominal trauma: a prospective comparison with diagnostic peritoneal lavage.
There has been recent enthusiasm for computed tomography (CT) to supplant diagnostic peritoneal lavage (DPL) in the detection of abdominal injuries. We prospectively compared CT to DPL following acute blunt trauma or stab wound to the abdomen. Patients with hemodynamic instability or overt signs of intraperitoneal pathology underwent urgent laparotomy and were excluded from study. ⋯ In particular, CT missed seven solid visceral (five liver, two spleen), five hollow visceral, one major vascular, and three diaphragmatic lesions requiring operative intervention. In our experience, CT demonstrated an alarming incidence of false-negative studies. Given the widespread variability of CT equipment and personnel we would argue strongly against the use of CT alone in the evaluation of acute abdominal trauma and continue to support DPL as the most accurate and reliable instrument of detection.
-
Sixteen dogs were placed under general anesthesia and flail segments of the left chest were created by transecting ribs 7,8,9, and 10 anteriorly and posteriorly. Fractures were 10 cm apart so that a 10-cm flail segment encompassing four ribs was created. In Group I, the control (N = 5), the chest wall muscles were closed without any stabilization of the fractures. ⋯ The study established a canine model for flail chest. It also showed that strut stabilization of rib fractures with bone grafts promotes better healing than suture stabilization. It suggests that using bone grafts taken from another rib to stabilize flail segments may be unsatisfactory since the rib used as a donor showed no signs of regeneration at 30 days.
-
Near-complete traumatic hemipelvectomy probably carries an extremely high mortality rate. The usual techniques which have been used to control major hemorrhage associated with pelvic fractures such as transperitoneal vascular ligation, intra-arterial embolization, and packing are not applicable (14). Successful management requires prompt recognition of the nature of this injury so that surgical efforts may be directed at resuscitation and expeditious operative completion of the traumatic amputation. ⋯ Intestinal and urinary diversion allowed an uneventful postoperative recovery without significant infection. Although hemipelvectomy appears to be a radical procedure in children with major pelvic injuries, it may be lifesaving and should therefore be considered in those with severe unilateral pelvic injury and uncontrollable hemorrhage. The potential for physical rehabilitation in the group of young, mostly male patients who have survived this injury appears to be unexpectedly good.
-
Victims of traumatic asphyxia syndrome were studied to determine: mechanism of injury, severity of injury, characteristic physical stigmata, treatment, and long-term disability. Consecutive patients who sustained severe crush injuries with traumatic asphyxia in the 5-year period ending November 1984 were reviewed. Followup was established by personal examination or questionnaire. ⋯ Despite severity of injury, no long-term disability was detected at an average followup of 4.4 years. No long-term survivors demonstrated residual cyanosis, petechiae, swelling, or neurologic sequelae. All had returned to work or school.