Articles: trauma.
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Journal of critical care · Aug 2014
ReviewFrom data patterns to mechanistic models in acute critical illness.
The complexity of the physiologic and inflammatory response in acute critical illness has stymied the accurate diagnosis and development of therapies. The Society for Complex Acute Illness was formed a decade ago with the goal of leveraging multiple complex systems approaches to address this unmet need. ⋯ We suggest that the next decade holds the potential to merge these approaches, connecting patient diagnosis to treatment via mechanism-based dynamical system modeling and feedback control and allowing extrapolation from physiologic signals to biomarkers to novel drug candidates. As a predicate example, we focus on the role of data-driven and mechanistic models in neuroscience and the impact that merging these modeling approaches can have on general anesthesia.
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Trauma and penetrating injury, mostly in the form of assault and self-inflicted gunshot and stab wounds, is a major contributor to mortality and morbidity in the modern world, specifically among younger populations. While the prevalence of this form of injury is drastically lower in the UK and Europe in comparison with the USA, it is still common enough to necessitate practising anaesthetists to have a good understanding and working knowledge of the principles in treating victims with penetrating injury. This review article aims to cover basic principles of attending to penetrating trauma victims starting at the pre-hospital level and continuing into the emergency department (ED) and the operating theatre. ⋯ We also suggest a work flow for treating life-threatening penetrating injury and review the major controversies in this field. Our perspective is based on the experience and procedures used at the University of Washington's Harborview Medical Center, the only level 1 trauma centre covering the states of Washington, Alaska, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming in the USA. This region contains almost 11 000 000 persons over a surface area of more than 2 700 000 km(2).
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Temporal bone trauma is commonly seen in patients with craniofacial injury and can be detected using multidetector computed tomography. A thorough understanding of the different types of temporal bone fracture patterns is needed to accurately describe the trajectory of injury as well as anticipated complications. Fractures should be described based on direction, segment of temporal bone involved, as well as involvement of the otic capsule. More importantly, the radiologist plays an integral role in identifying complications of temporal bone injury, which often have significant clinical implications.
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Multicenter Study
Trends in moderate to severe paediatric trauma in Central Netherlands.
Trend analyses of hospital discharge data can raise signals for prevention policies, but are often flawed by changes in health care consumption. This is a trend analysis of the clinical incidence of paediatric trauma that used international criteria to overcome this bias. The objective is to describe trends in clinical incidence of moderate to severe paediatric trauma, and to identify target groups for prevention activities. ⋯ The incidence of paediatric trauma in the centre of the Netherlands increased since 2001. Trend analyses on moderate and severe injuries may identify target groups for prevention in a trauma region.
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Applying therapeutic hypothermia (TH) for the purposes of neuroprotection, originally termed "hibernation," started nearly 100 years ago. Because TH cooling systems have improved to the point where it is practical and safe for general application, interest in providing such treatment in conditions such as spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, stroke, and cardiac arrest has increased. This article reviews the mechanisms by which TH mitigates secondary neurologic injury, the clinical scenarios where TH is being applied, and reviews selected published studies using TH for central nervous system neuroprotection.