J Trauma
-
Despite improvements in burn wound care, infections, particularly pneumonia, remain a major hurdle to recovery from thermal injury. After burns, a variety of systemic immune and inflammatory changes contribute to the risk of infection. Clinically, infection coupled with burn injury seems to adversely affect susceptibility to subsequent infection. ⋯ Small thermal injuries coupled with transient infection of the lungs or peritoneum delay the clearance of bacteria from the lungs and contribute to infection of the lungs, liver, burn site, and blood by endogenous organisms. These studies support the synergy of relatively small thermal injuries with infectious exposures in the pathogenesis of pneumonia and systemic infections after burns.
-
Comparative Study
Railway train versus motor vehicle collisions: a comparative study of injury severity and patterns.
This study compares the demographics, injury severity, resource use, and injury patterns of patients involved in railway train-motor vehicle (RT-MV) to motor vehicle-motor vehicle (MV-MV) collisions. ⋯ RT-MV collisions are a marker for more severe injuries, but not a different pattern of injury, compared with MV-MV collisions.
-
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) impairs outcome from injury. We present a path analysis of factors related to the development of PTSD in injured adults. ⋯ PTSD occurred in 42.3% of injured adults 6 months after trauma and was related to assault, dissociation, female gender, youth, poor mental health, and prior illness. By modeling PTSD, we may learn more of the etiology, risk stratification, and potentials for the treatment of this common and important morbidity of injury.