Urgent reversal of warfarin with prothrombin complex concentrate.

BACKGROUND: When life-threatening bleeding occurs in patients on warfarin, timely reversal becomes imperative. In the USA, warfarin effect is commonly reversed with fresh frozen plasma (FFP). The use of FFP is complicated by delays in correction, volume overload and often, inadequate correction. OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of a protocol for rapid administration of prothrombin complex concentrate (PCC) in the setting of the urgent need for reversal of warfarin. METHODS/PATIENTS: We instituted a policy for rapid delivery and administration of PCC. Appropriate patients received 25-50 U kg(-1) of PCC. The prothrombin time (PT)/International Normalized Ratios (INR) was recorded before and immediately after dosing, and 24 h postdosing. Patients requiring surgical interventions were cleared for the operating room (OR) immediately. Fifty-eight patients were treated, with a median age of 75.5 years (range 26-92). RESULTS: The median INR on presentation was 3.8 (1.4-52.8). Immediately following PCC administration the median INR was 1.3 (0.9-5.7), only two patients with INRs exceeding 2.0. The benefit was maintained at 24 h with a median INR of 1.5 (1.1-3.4). Four patients experienced thrombotic events during their hospitalization, (two deep vein thrombosis, two non-q-wave myocardial infarction) although none was attributed to PPC therapy. CONCLUSIONS: PCC administration is an effective treatment modality for the correction of warfarin anticoagulation in the urgent setting. Advantages over FFP include more timely correction, absence of volume overload and potentially more complete correction. Broader use of PCC in this setting appears to be appropriate.

Contribution of age and gender to outcome of blunt splenic injury in adults: multicenter study of the eastern association for the surgery of trauma.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of age and gender to outcome after treatment of blunt splenic injury in adults. METHODS: Through the Multi-Institutional Trials Committee of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST), 1488 adult patients from 27 trauma centers who suffered blunt splenic injury in 1997 were examined retrospectively. RESULTS: Fifteen percent of patients were 55 years of age or older. A similar proportion of patients > or = 55 went directly to the operating room compared with patients < 55 (41% vs. 38%) but the mortality for patients > or = 55 was significantly greater than patients < 55 (43% vs. 23%). Patients > or = 55 failed nonoperative management (NOM) more frequently than patients < 55 (19% vs. 10%) and had increased mortality for both successful NOM (8% vs. 4%, p < 0.05) and failed NOM (29% vs. 12%, p = 0.054). There were no differences in immediate operative treatment, successful NOM, and failed NOM between men and women. However, women > or = 55 failed NOM more frequently than women < 55 (20% vs. 7%) and this was associated with increased mortality (36% vs. 5%) (both p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Patients > or = 55 had a greater mortality for all forms of treatment of their blunt splenic injury and failed NOM more frequently than patients < 55. Women > or = 55 had significantly greater mortality and failure of NOM than women < 55.

Blunt splenic injury in adults: Multi-institutional Study of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma.

BACKGROUND: Nonoperative management of blunt injury to the spleen in adults has been applied with increasing frequency. However, the criteria for nonoperative management are controversial. The purpose of this multi-institutional study was to determine which factors predict successful observation of blunt splenic injury in adults. METHODS: A total of 1,488 adults (>15 years of age) with blunt splenic injury from 27 trauma centers in 1997 were studied through the Multi-institutional Trials Committee of the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma. Statistical analysis was performed with analysis of variance and extended chi2 test. Data are expressed as mean +/- SD; a value of p < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: A total of 38.5 % of patients went directly to the operating room (group I); 61.5% of patients were admitted with planned nonoperative management. Of the patients admitted with planned observation, 10.8% failed and required laparotomy; 82.1% of patients with an Injury Severity Score (ISS) < 15 and 46.6% of patients with ISS > 15 were successfully observed. Frequency of immediate operation correlated with American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) grades of splenic injury: I (23.9%), II (22.4%), III (38.1%), IV (73.7%), and V (94.9%) (p < 0.05). Of patients initially managed nonoperatively, the failure rate increased significantly by AAST grade of splenic injury: I (4.8%), II (9.5%), III (19.6%), IV (33.3%), and V (75.0%) (p < 0.05). A total of 60.9% of the patients failed nonoperative management within 24 hours of admission; 8% failed 9 days or later after injury. Laparotomy was ultimately performed in 19.9% of patients with small hemoperitoneum, 49.4% of patients with moderate hemoperitoneum, and 72.6% of patients with large hemoperitoneum. CONCLUSION: In this multicenter study, 38.5% of adults with blunt splenic injury went directly to laparotomy. Ultimately, 54.8% of patients were successfully managed nonoperatively; the failure rate of planned observation was 10.8%, with 60.9% of failures occurring in the first 24 hours. Successful nonoperative management was associated with higher blood pressure and hematocrit, and less severe injury based on ISS, Glasgow Coma Scale, grade of splenic injury, and quantity of hemoperitoneum.

Hypercarbia during tracheostomy: a comparison of percutaneous endoscopic, percutaneous Doppler, and standard surgical tracheostomy.

OBJECTIVE: Tracheostomy is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures in the critical care setting. The early use of tracheostomy as a method of primary airway management has been proposed as a means to decrease pulmonary morbidity and to shorten the number of ventilator, intensive care unit, and hospital days. We set out to (1) determine whether hypercarbia occurs during tracheostomy of the critically ill patient and (2) determine the extent to which the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in arterial blood (PaCO2) rises during percutaneous endoscopic, percutaneous Doppler, and standard surgical tracheostomy. DESIGN: Prospective, open clinical trial. SETTING: Surgical intensive care unit and operating room in teaching hospitals. PATIENTS: During mechanical ventilation, patients underwent either percutaneous endoscopic (PET), percutaneous Doppler (PDT), or standard surgical tracheostomy (ST), based on surgeon preference. Arterial blood gas readings were obtained approximately every 4 min throughout each procedure. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: All tracheostomies were successfully performed. No serious complications (including hypoxia) occurred during the study. Significant (p < 0.05 vs PDT and ST) hypercarbia (maximum delta PaCO2 24 +/- 3 mmHg) and acidosis (maximum delta pH -0.16 +/- 0.02) developed during PET. The changes in PaCO2 and pH during PDT (maximum delta PaCO2 8 +/- 2 mmHg; maximum delta pH -0.07 +/- 0.02) and ST (maximum delta PaCO2 3 +/- 1 mmHg; maximum delta pH -0.04 +/- 0.01) were markedly less pronounced. CONCLUSIONS: Continuous bronchoscopy during percutaneous tracheostomy contributes significantly to early hypoventilation, hypercarbia, and respiratory acidosis during the procedure. Percutaneous tracheostomy, when performed using the Doppler ultrasound method to position the endotracheal tube, significantly reduces CO2 retention when compared to PET. Because of a possible rise in intracranial pressure, the potential for hypercarbia should be considered when choosing the method of tracheostomy in the critically ill and/or head-injured patient, where hypercarbia may be detrimental. If PET is to be performed, steps to minimize occult hypercarbia, such as using the smallest bronchoscope available, minimizing suctioning during bronchoscopy, and minimizing the length of time the bronchoscope is in the endotracheal tube, should be undertaken.

Adequacy and efficacy of lateral cervical spine radiography in alert, high-risk blunt trauma patient.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the adequacy and accuracy of lateral cervical spine radiographs in the initial evaluation of alert, high-risk trauma patients evaluated at a Level I trauma center. METHODS: Data were obtained retrospectively through review of trauma service admissions from January 1, 1994, to July 31, 1995. Included were all patients triaged to a trauma response team with age > 15 years, Glasgow Coma Scale score > 13, and blunt mechanism of injury. Lateral cervical spine radiograms were obtained routinely before secondary survey and were reviewed for technical adequacy (all seven cervical vertebrae, C7/T1 interspace). The presence of cervical symptoms (pain, tenderness, neurologic deficits) was recorded. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated for lateral cervical spine radiography and cervical symptoms in predicting the presence of cervical spine injury. Bayesian analysis, which allows for the current probability of occurrence to be factored by previously reported probabilities of occurrence, was used to determine the negative predictive probability of lateral cervical spine radiography and absence of cervical symptoms to predict the absence of injury to the cervical spine. RESULTS: Three hundred fifty-three patients received lateral cervical spine radiograms, of which 223 (63%) were determined to be adequate for interpretation. Cervical symptoms were present in 77 patients (20%). Only 32 (42%) of this group's lateral cervical spine radiograms were adequate. Nine patients (2.4%) had acutely fractured cervical vertebrae or ligamentous disruption. Lateral cervical spine radiography showed the injury in only six of these patients. The sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive probability for lateral cervical spine radiography were 67, 58, and 1.4%, respectively, and for absence of cervical symptoms, 89, 81, and 0.32%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The higher accuracy and lower negative predictive probability make the absence of cervical symptoms in the alert, high-risk, blunt trauma patient a better screening test than lateral cervical spine radiography. We suggest that lateral cervical spine radiography is not needed in the initial evaluation of alert patients who have sustained blunt trauma.

Impact of a two-tiered trauma response in the emergency department: promoting efficient resource utilization.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this prospective study was to assess the impact of a two-tiered trauma response protocol on the expediency of identification, evaluation, and treatment of trauma patients in the Emergency Department. MATERIALS AND METHODS: At a Level I Trauma Center serving a suburban/urban population of approximately one million people, Emergency Department length of stay was tabulated for all consecutive Trauma Service admissions 6 months before and 6 months after implementation of a two-tiered trauma response protocol. This protocol, which uses specific triage criteria, consisted of the standard Surgery-supervised trauma code response and an additional Emergency Medicine-supervised trauma alert response. RESULTS: Trauma Service admissions numbered 532 in the pre-protocol period and 512 in the period after implementation of the protocol. In the first period, the Emergency Department length of stay was 289 minutes; in the second period, it was 241 minutes. Of the 512 patients in the post-protocol period, 183 were triaged to the new trauma alert group, reducing the number of Trauma Service consultations and decreasing Emergency Department length of stay by 139 minutes. The two levels of trauma response allowed accurate identification of the most seriously injured patients and improved the ability to predict those patients who would require direct disposition to the operating room or intensive care unit. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of a two-tiered trauma response significantly decreased Emergency Department length of stay, allowed Emergency Medicine physicians to more rapidly identify, evaluate, and treat trauma patients requiring hospitalization, improved identification of patients requiring operating room or intensive care unit resources, and was time efficient and resource efficient.

Internal mammary artery injury, anterior mediastinal hematoma, and cardiac compromise after blunt chest trauma.

A rare case of blunt chest trauma resulting in internal mammary artery hemorrhage and cardiac tamponade is presented. Thoracotomy revealed anterior mediastinal hemorrhage but no pericardial hematoma. The significance of chest wall vessel hemorrhage as a cause of widened mediastinum is reiterated. The importance of accurate angiographic assessment and vigilant care of victims of blunt chest trauma who present with a widened mediastinum is emphasized.

A study of recovery in trauma patients.

Although the majority of trauma patients are discharged home rather than to a rehabilitation facility, the timeliness of their return to function (RTF) has received little study. The present prospective study attempted to identify those factors that would predict delayed RTF. The study group consisted of patients admitted to a level I trauma center for at least 24 hours, who were of working age (18-64 years), who passed a cognitive screening examination, and who were discharged home. Demographic data and psychological profiles were collected on all participants. Patients were followed by telephone at approximately 1 1/2, 3, and 6 months after discharge. Five hundred seventy patients were entered into the study; complete follow-up data were available for 441. Statistical methods were modeled after survival analysis using a proportional hazards multiple regression to identify variables prognostic of RTF time. This type analysis is independent of time, providing a "risk" of RTF at any point in time after the injury. It also allowed the calculation a relative hazards ratio (RHR), which quantifies the impact of a prognostic variable on RTF time. Injury Severity Score (ISS) and age were found to be associated with RTF (p < 0.0001 for each). After correcting for ISS and age, five additional factors were found to be associated with RTF. Higher educational level and living in a non-family household were associated with faster RTF. Less than 100% income replacement by disability income, pre-injury hostility, and litigation related to the injury were associated with slower RTF. There were a number of other demographic, work-related, and psychosocial factors that were not related with RTF.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Impact of minimal injuries on a level I trauma center.

Overtriage (i.e.; transport of patients with minimal injuries to a trauma center) has been accepted as necessary to avoid missing clinically significant injuries. We reviewed our experience with 344 patients (ISS less than or equal to 4) who were admitted to a level I trauma center during a 2-year period. The trauma team was activated for 209 patients (TA), and emergency department referrals accounted for 135 (ED). One hundred seventy-three patients (TA = 64%, ED = 36%) met American College of Surgeons' Committee on Trauma (ACSCOT) field triage criteria (FTC). Mechanism of injury, especially ejection from a motor vehicle, was the most frequently utilized FTC indicator. We found no differences between the TA and ED groups relative to Trauma Score, Glasgow Coma Scale score, Injury Severity Score, length of stay, or ICU days. Mean total costs were higher for the TA group than for the ED group. The TA group had a higher nursing acuity level than the ED group. Compliance with FTC yields an inherent overtriage of minimally injured patients; however, noncompliance with FTC compounds the overtriage rate. Failure to comply with FTC is costly, labor intensive, and may represent misuse of the trauma system. We propose continual re-education of prehospital personnel, increased responsibility of all hospitals in the trauma center catchment area, and protocols for "downstaging" trauma resuscitation in minimally injured patients.

Maternal predictors of fetal demise in trauma during pregnancy.

Trauma complicates 6 to 7 per cent of all pregnancies, but fetal demise secondary to maternal trauma occurs much less frequently. This study was done to analyze the incidence of fetal demise as a function of 21 maternal characteristics determined within the first 24 hours after trauma. Nine instances of fetal demise were identified from 73 pregnant patients with trauma admitted to four Level I trauma centers from a combined data base of 30,000 patients. Maternal factors examined by logistic regression were Injury Severity Score (ISS), Trauma Score (TS), Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS), fluid requirements in the initial 24 hours, systolic blood pressure (SBP), heart rate (HR), hemoglobin, hematocrit and arterial blood gas analysis. Fetal demise was found to be associated with increasing ISS, increasing face and abdominal AIS, increasing fluid requirements, maternal acidosis and maternal hypoxia. Standard maternal laboratory and physiologic parameters, such as hemoglobin and hematocrit, oxygen and hemoglobin saturation, partial pressure of carbon dioxide, SBP and HR were not predictive. The TS was also found to be nonpredictive.

Emergency intubation for paralysis of the uncooperative trauma patient.

The impact of paralysis followed by intubation was studied in patients who had been traumatized and subsequently admitted to Lehigh Valley Hospital Center. Trauma admission records between January 1987 and June 1988 were reviewed. Fifty-seven patients, intubated for control of agitation and combativeness, were divided into high injury severity (HIS) and low injury severity (LIS) subgroups using admission trauma (TS) and injury severity scores (ISS). Thirty-eight (70%) were classified as HIS and 19 (30%) as LIS. All HIS patients had significant injuries diagnosed following paralysis with intubation (PWI). Mortality in the HIS group was 9%. The LIS subgroup was compared to a randomly selected group of similarly injured blunt trauma patients who did not require PWI. There were significant differences (P less than 0.05) in age, hospital cost, hours per day of nursing care, and percent of patients with an ETOH level greater than 100 mg%. Emergency paralysis with intubation is an effective method for controlling the uncooperative, combative, seriously injured patient. However, patients with low injury severity who require restraint have higher costs and require more care if they are paralyzed and intubated than if they are not.

Asymptomatic occult cervical spine fracture: case report and review of the literature.

Lack of case documentation has led to controversy over the existence of asymptomatic occult cervical spine injury. We report a case of an elderly patient involved in a motor vehicle accident who sustained an asymptomatic occult cervical spine injury, and review the literature with regard to this controversial injury.

Cirrhosis in the trauma victim. Effect on mortality rates.

To evaluate the impact cirrhosis has on survival the records of 40 cirrhotic trauma victims from the registries of two Level 1 trauma centers were reviewed and probability of survival calculated using the TRISS methodology. Mechanism of injury, anatomic location, involvement of single or multiple sites, presence of ascites, elevations in serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT), alkaline phosphatase, serum bilirubin, prothrombin time (PT), and hypoalbuminemia were tabulated for each patient. Contingency tables were created for injury and hepatic parameters, as related to survival, and subjected to chi square analysis. Loglinear analysis was performed on all significant parameters to evaluate the independent effects of injury characteristics and hepatic insufficiency on survival. Predicted survival was 93%; observed survival was 70% (Z = -6.92; p less than 0.001). Cause of death was multiple-system organ failure (9) and closed head injury (3). Admission markers of poor outcome included one or more of the following: ascites, elevated PT or bilirubin, history of motor vehicle accident, multiple trauma, or blunt abdominal trauma requiring laparotomy. Loglinear analysis revealed that the presence of ascites, elevated PT, or bilirubin, further diminished the rate of survival for any individual injury characteristic. We concluded that survival among cirrhotic trauma victims was significantly lower than predicted. In addition the presence of hepatic insufficiency further diminishes survival, regardless of the injury sustained.

Final diagnosis by fine-needle aspiration biopsy for definitive operation in breast cancer.

This work has been based on 15 years experience with more than 10,000 needle aspiration biopsies of the breast. Fine-needle aspiration biopsy was used in place of open breast biopsy for definitive operation in breast cancer. Our experience with 2,623 aspiration biopsies over a 3 year period has been reviewed. There was a total of 323 cancers, of which 257 (80 percent) were unequivocally diagnosed by fine-needle aspiration biopsy. Definitive operation was performed in 244 of these patients (95 percent) without open biopsy. Thirteen had an excisional biopsy before definitive operation at the request of the referring physician. The sensitivity was 80 percent and the specificity was 98 percent. There were no false-positive diagnoses. The positive predictive value was 100 percent. False-negative diagnoses were made in 9 percent of the patients, half of whom had nonpalpable carcinomas. Our experience shows that fine-needle aspiration biopsy is accurate in the diagnosis of breast cancer, and when the finding is positive, it can be used for definitive breast operation, eliminating the need for open biopsy. A management algorithm has also been presented herein.