J Trauma
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Injury and/or work up of patients involved in genitourinary (GU) trauma often has a urologic component. By implementing a simple, versatile database to categorizing such injuries, we hoped to elucidate issues involved in the treatment of GU trauma. ⋯ Ease of creating and using this database demonstrate that it could serve as a multi-institutional GU trauma registry and prove invaluable in developing and refining future trauma protocols.
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Blunt cerebrovascular injuries (BCVIs), once thought to be rare, have been recognized with increasing frequency in recent years. An incidence of 0.33% for carotid artery injury (CAI) was noted from our institution, with 24% stroke-related mortality. Vertebral artery injury (VAI) has been thought both rare and of questionable significance. Incidence, associated injury patterns, and outcomes were examined during a period of aggressive screening (four-vessel angiography). ⋯ Increased awareness and aggressive screening have resulted in significantly increased incidence of diagnosis of CAI, with associated lower stroke-related mortality. VAIs have been noted with similar incidence, and though the stroke rate is lower with VAI, stroke outcomes are generally catastrophic. Anticoagulation therapy is effective for both varieties of BCVI.