Articles: trauma.
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Electronic (E)-scooters have become increasingly common in Ireland. Our group was the first to publish an analysis of injuries related to these devices in Ireland in 2021. Since then, the use of e-scooters has increased significantly. The primary aim of this study was to re-analyse the trend in scooter-related trauma 4 years later. ⋯ E-scooters remain to be a key contributor to emergency department presentations and complex orthopaedic injuries. The majority of patients require radiological investigation and specialist follow-up, with many needing surgical fixation. The effects of such injuries can have severe long-term consequences for patients and place financial constraints on our health system. With the rollout of e-scooter rental schemes and infrequent helmet use, one can expect the resulting trauma will continue to rise.
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Emergency medical services (EMS) clinicians manage patients with traumatic pneumothoraxes. These may be simple pneumothoraxes that are less clinically impactful, or tension pneumothoraxes that disturb perfusion, lead to shock, and impart significant risk for morbidity and mortality. Needle thoracostomy is the most common EMS treatment of tension pneumothorax, but despite the potentially life-saving value of needle thoracostomy, reports indicate frequent misapplication of the procedure as well as low rates of successful decompression. ⋯ EMS clinicians must determine when pleural decompression is indicated and optimize the safety and effectiveness of the procedure. Furthermore, there is also ambiguity regarding EMS management of open pneumothoraxes. To provide evidence-based guidance on the management of traumatic pneumothoraxes in the EMS setting, the National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP) performed a structured literature review and developed the following recommendations supported by the evidence summarized in the accompanying resource document.
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Acute dyspnea is a common symptom whose management is challenging in prehospital settings. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is increasingly accessible because of device miniaturization. To assess the contribution of POCUS in the prehospital management of patients with acute nontraumatic dyspnea, we performed a systematic review on nontrauma patients of any age managed in the prehospital setting for acute dyspnea and receiving a POCUS examination. ⋯ Moreover, POCUS seems to have a therapeutic contribution. There is not enough evidence supporting the use of POCUS for pneumonia, pleural effusion, pneumothorax, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or asthma exacerbation diagnosis, nor does it support prognostic, patient referral, and transport vector contribution. A high level of evidence is lacking and needed.
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Purpose: This study aims to establish and validate machine learning-based models to predict death in hospital among critical orthopaedic trauma patients with sepsis or respiratory failure. Methods: This study collected 523 patients from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care database. All patients were randomly classified into a training cohort and a validation cohort. ⋯ However, the eXGBM model consistently outperformed the RF model across multiple evaluation metrics, establishing itself as the superior option for predictive modeling in this scenario, with the RF model as a strong secondary choice. The SHAP analysis revealed that SAPS II, age, respiratory rate, OASIS, and temperature were the most important five features contributing to the outcome. Conclusions: This study develops an artificial intelligence application to predict in-hospital mortality among critical orthopaedic trauma patients with sepsis or respiratory failure.
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Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), and its formation and release, known as NETosis, may play a role in the initiation of thrombin generation (TG) in trauma. The objective of this study was to assess whether trauma patients, who develop symptomatic venous thromboembolism (VTE), have increased levels of plasma citrullinated histone H3 (CitH3) and accelerated TG kinetics. ⋯ Trauma patients developing VTE exhibit increased NETosis, measured by increased CitH3 levels and accelerated TG early after injury, outlining an area for further understanding VTE after trauma.