Articles: trauma.
-
Curr Opin Crit Care · Jun 2024
ReviewWhat's new in whole blood resuscitation? In the trauma bay and beyond.
Transfusion therapy commonly supports patient care during life-threatening injury and critical illness. Herein we examine the recent resurgence of whole blood (WB) resuscitation for patients in hemorrhagic shock following trauma and other causes of severe bleeding. ⋯ Whole blood may be transfused as FWB or LTOWB to support a hemostatic approach to hemorrhagic shock management. Although the bulk of WB resuscitation literature has appropriately focused on hemorrhagic shock following injury, extension to other etiologies of severe hemorrhage will benefit from focused inquiry to address cost, efficacy, approach, and patient-centered outcomes.
-
Most children receive emergency care by general emergency physicians and not in designated children's hospitals. There are unique considerations in the care of children that differ from the care of adults. ⋯ These studies address pediatric resuscitation, traumatic arrest, septic shock, airway management, nailbed injuries, bronchiolitis, infant fever, cervical spine injuries, and cancer risk from radiation (Table 1). The findings in these articles have the potential to impact the evaluation and management of children (Table 2).
-
Curr Opin Crit Care · Jun 2024
ReviewEffective approaches to address noncompressible torso hemorrhage.
Noncompressible torso hemorrhage (NCTH) is now considered as the major cause of preventable death after both severe military and civilian trauma. Around 20% of all trauma patients still die from uncontrolled exsanguination along with rapidly evolving hemostatic failure. This review highlights the most recent advances in the field and provides an outline for future research directions. ⋯ The concepts for the early management of NCTH have substantially evolved over the last decade. The development of new devices and techniques combined with early intervention of hemostatic failure have contributed to more successful resuscitations. Future research needs to refine and validate their potential clinical application.
-
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in both adult civilian and military populations. Currently, diagnostic and prognostic methods are limited to imaging and clinical findings. Biomarker measurements offer a potential method to assess head injuries and help predict outcomes, which has a potential benefit to the military, particularly in the deployed setting where imaging modalities are limited. We determine how biomarkers such as ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase-L1 (UCH-L1), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), S100B, neurofilament light chain (NFL), and tau proteins can offer important information to guide the diagnosis, acute management, and prognosis of TBI, specifically in military personnel. ⋯ TBI occurs frequently in the military and civilian settings with limited methods to diagnose and prognosticate outcomes. We highlighted several promising biomarkers for these purposes including S100B, UCH-L1, NFL, GFAP, and tau proteins. S100B and UCH-L1 appear to have the strongest data to date, but further research is necessary. The robust data that explain the optimal timing and, more importantly, trending of these biomarker measurements are necessary before widespread application.
-
Inadequate clinical experience still causes uncertainty in the acute diagnostic evaluation and treatment of polytrauma in children (with or without coagulopathy). This review deals with the main aspects of the acute care of severely injured children in the light of current guidelines and other relevant literature, in particular airway control, volume and coagulation management, acute diagnostic imaging, and blood coagulation studies in the shock room. ⋯ 4% of polytrauma patients are children. Because children differ from adults both anatomically and physiologically, the diagnostic evaluation and management of polytrauma in children presents a special challenge. The evidence base for pediatric polytrauma management is still inadequate; current recommendations are based on consensus, in consideration of the special features of children compared to adults.