J Trauma
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We describe the surgical response of two affiliated hospitals during the day of, and week following, the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attack at the World Trade Center in New York City. The city of New York has 18 state designated regional trauma centers that receive major trauma victims. The southern half of Manhattan is served by a burn center, two regional trauma centers, and a community hospital that is an affiliate of one of the regional trauma centers. This report accounts for the surgical response by a regional trauma center (Hospital A, located 2.5 miles from the World Trade Center) and its affiliate hospital (Hospital B, located 5 city blocks from the World Trade Center) on September 11th when two commercial jets crashed into the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center mall. ⋯ The September 11th, 2001, terrorist attack in New York City, involving two commercial airliners crashing into the World Trade Center, led to 911 patients received at two affiliated hospitals in lower Manhattan. One hospital is a regional trauma center and one was an affiliate community hospital. Eighty five percent of the patients received were walking wounded. Of the rest, 13% underwent surgical procedures with an overall critical mortality rate of 37.5%.
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Missed injuries (MIs) adversely affect patient outcome and damage physician/institutional credibility. The primary and secondary surveys are designed to identify all of a patient's injuries and prioritize their management; however, MIs are prevalent in severely injured and multisystem trauma patients, especially when the patient's condition precludes completion of the secondary survey. We hypothesized that implementation of a routine tertiary trauma survey (TS) would reduce the incidence of MIs in a Level I trauma center. ⋯ ICU patients-particularly brain injury victims and those undergoing emergent surgical procedures-appear to be at highest risk for MI. Implementation of a standardized TS decreased MIs by 36% in our Level I trauma center, and more timely TS would likely have further reduced MIs. A TS should be routine in trauma centers.
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Hemorrhage is a leading cause of death from trauma. An advanced hemostatic dressing could augment available hemostatic methods. We studied the effects of a new chitosan dressing on blood loss, survival, and fluid use after severe hepatic injury in swine. ⋯ A chitosan dressing reduced hemorrhage and improved survival after severe liver injury in swine. Further studies are warranted.
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Hypertonic saline (HTS) attenuates polymorphonuclear neutrophil (PMN)-mediated tissue injury after hemorrhagic shock. We hypothesized that HTS resuscitation reduces early in vivo endothelial cell (EC)-PMN interactions and late lung PMN sequestration in a two-hit model of hemorrhagic shock followed by mimicked infection. ⋯ Compared with RL, HTS resuscitation attenuates early EC-PMN adhesion and late lung PMN accumulation in hemorrhagic shock followed by inflammation. HTS resuscitation may attenuate PMN-mediated organ damage.
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The guidelines for Level I trauma center verification require 1,200 admissions per year. Several studies looking at the relationship between hospital volume and outcomes after injury have reached conflicting conclusions. The goal of our study was to examine the relationship between patient volume and outcomes (mortality and length of hospital stay) in California's trauma centers. ⋯ In our study, hospital volume was not a good proxy for outcome. Low-volume centers appeared to have outcomes that were comparable to centers with higher volumes. Perhaps institutional outcomes rather than volumes should be used as a criterion for trauma center verification.