Impact of alcohol consumption on winter sports-related injuries.

INTRODUCTION: This study was carried out to evaluate data about trauma-related winter sports, including risk factors such as high speed, gender, age, alcohol consumption, details about the accident and snow conditions. METHODS: A retrospective review was conducted to determine the injury patterns and crash circumstances in holiday skiers and snowboarders. The data recorded were obtained from the database of the Pre-Hospital Emergency Registry of six skiing areas in the Dolomite mountains during the winter seasons November 2004-May 2009, injury data for major traumas from Ski Patrol Injury reports (helicopter, ambulance or ski slopes' patrol reports), and intrahospital Emergency Department data. Alcohol concentration in blood was detected in 200 individuals suffering from major trauma. RESULTS: A total of 4550 injured patients, predominantly male (69%), mean age 22 years (range 16-72), were included in the observational analysis. Knee, wrist and shoulder injuries were frequently associated with major thoracic, abdominal or head traumas (64% of cases). Suboptimal technical level, high speed, low concentration, snow or weather conditions, faulty equipment and protective devices were among the various causes of accidents. The analysis revealed that high alcohol blood concentration was present in 43% of 200 patients. CONCLUSIONS: Even though the major causes of accidents were excessive speed, excessive fatigue, technical errors and bad weather conditions, alcohol abuse was often discovered. Random sampling and a non-systematic detection of alcohol blood levels likely led to an underestimation of alcohol consumption-related injuries. It is recommended that investigations into alcoholic intoxication in injured skiers should be carried out on a large scale.

Helicopter rescue and prehospital care for drowning children: two summer season case studies.

BACKGROUND: Drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death in children <14 years of age and is one of the most important causes of accidental injury between the ages of 1 and 4 years. In this study, the characteristics of non-fatal unintentional drownings in a small series of pediatric victims were examined. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed data collected by the rescue team from May to October in two consecutive years (2006, 2007). RESULTS: Nine accidents occurred in public waters, while 5 occurred in lakes and rivers. The submersion time reported ranged from approximately 5 to 15 min. The ground emergency service with basic life support rescue experts intervened within a mean of 12 min. Advanced cardiac life support maneuvers were implemented by the helicopter medical crew for all victims. Ten of the 14 children remained in cardiocirculatory arrest despite cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) was <8 in all cases. Field resuscitation ultimately proved successful for every child. Thus, none was transported by the helicopter with ongoing CPR. All submersion-injured children survived. No postanoxic cerebral injury or major neurological complications were detected. CONCLUSION: Assuring safe tracheal ventilation, achieving intravenous access, and stabilizing both respiratory and hemodynamic disturbances on the ground before transferring the patient are the keys to out-of-hospital management. Our 100% survival rate likely results from adequate primary out of-hospital care. Promptly dispatching a helicopter with a specialized medical crew is very expensive, but is worth the cost because it offers a better chance of survival.

[The value of prenatal sonography in the diagnosis of congenital malformations]. / Utilità dell'ecografia prenatale per la diagnosi di malformazioni congenite.

Three hundred and forty-one prenatal ultrasound tests performed in 79 cases who presented congenital malformations at birth were studied retrospectively. A correct prenatal diagnosis was only made in 24 cases (30.3%), whereas there were 50 false negative (63.3%) and 5 dubious cases (6.3%). The percentage of false negative was greater in the group of cases examined in peripheral centres (56%) in comparison to those examined in our institute (35%).