Articles: trauma.
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Most critically ill injured patients are transported out of the theater by Critical Care Air Transport Teams (CCATTs). Fever after trauma is correlated with surgical complications and infection. The purposes of this study are to identify the incidence of elevated temperature in patients managed in the CCATT environment and to describe the complications reported and the treatments used in these patients. ⋯ Fever occurred in 41% of critically ill combat-injured patients evacuated out of the combat theater in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fewer than 20% of patients with a documented elevated temperature received treatments to reduce the temperature. Intubation of patients with ventilators in use during the transport was the only factor significantly associated with fever. Serious complications were rare, and there were no deaths during these transports.
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Ulus Travma Acil Cer · Nov 2013
Case Reports[Late presentation of posttraumatic pulmonary arteriovenous fistulea occlusion with septal occluder device].
Posttraumatic pulmonary arteriovenous fistula is a rare complication of penetrating injury. Cases may remain asymptomatic for years prior to diagnosis. ⋯ Consistent use of CT or conventional catheter pulmonary angiography following penetrating injury to the thorax is essential to the early diagnosis of pulmonary arteriovenous fistula during the asymptomatic stage. Modern occlude devices facilitate the transcatheter approach as a viable alternative to surgery for the closure large, high pressure defects.
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Comparative Study
Head and neck trauma in Iraq and Afghanistan: different war, different surgery, lessons learned.
The objectives are to compare and contrast the head and neck trauma experience in Iraq and Afghanistan and to identify trauma lessons learned that are applicable to civilian practice. ⋯ Level 4.
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Eur J Trauma Emerg S · Oct 2013
Do cervical spine X-rays for trauma have clinically significant incidental findings?
About 800,000 cervical X-rays for trauma are taken every year in the USA. Those X-rays are reviewed by orthopedic specialists in the emergency room (ER) for traumatic findings. The quantity of incidental atraumatic findings in this very prevalent examination is unknown. We sought to determine the incidence of those findings. ⋯ Incidental findings in the cervical spine were associated with older age. Awareness of the prevalence of incidental findings is important in order to ensure that they are detected and managed appropriately.
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Eur J Trauma Emerg S · Oct 2013
Symptomatic venous thromboembolism in Asian major trauma patients: incidence, presentation and risk factors.
Trauma patients are known to be at increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), and pulmonary embolism (PE) is one of the preventable causes of mortality in trauma patients. The incidence of VTE in Asian populations was believed to be lower than in Caucasians, but the recent literature suggests that this is not the case. The purpose of this study was to assess the incidence of VTE in Asian major trauma patients and to examine the manner of presentation, use of prophylaxis and risk factors for VTE. While other studies of VTE have addressed general and high-risk populations within Asia, our study is one of the few to examine Asian major trauma patients. ⋯ The incidence of symptomatic VTE in the Asian trauma population is no lower than in the West. The incidence found in this study is similar to the incidence of VTE according to a study using data from the American national trauma data bank using similar study methods and with a similar study population. It is also higher than the incidence in the literature for general post-surgical Asian patients. Fever was the presenting factor in some patients and screening for VTE should not be forgotten when assessing fever in the trauma patient. The strong association between head injury, spinal cord injury and VTE confirms that we should pay special attention to VTE prophylaxis for our patients with these injuries.