ABSTRACT
Background: At present, basic scientific research on pancreatic trauma is rare due to the lack of ideal animal models and modeling equipment for pancreatic trauma. Therefore, we intend to develop a multifunctional impact system with simple operation, diverse impact and accurate measurement and to establish a rat pancreatic trauma model based on injury area control by using the system. Methods: The impactor was designed based on the convenience of the impact energy acquisition, the diversity of the impact operation, and the precision of the impact strength parameter measurement by the team. The efficacy and stability/repeatability of the impactor were preliminarily evaluated. An impact head with different impact areas (3 cm2 and 6 cm2) of the impactor was used to squeeze the rat pancreas in the abdomen to form different injury areas under a pressure of 400 kPa. The efficacy features of this trauma model were evaluated by detecting the outcomes of pathology and biochemistry at 24 h after injury in the two groups. Furthermore, these changes were also evaluated at 6 h, 24 h, 48 h and 72 h after injury in the 3 cm2 trauma group. Result: Multifunctional impactors were successfully explored. The impact force was continuously adjustable with a range of 0-200 kg. The compression and extrusion stress ranges were continuously adjustable from 0 to 100 kg. System adjustment verified that the impactor had fine efficacy (P < 0.05) and stability/repeatability (P > 0.05). Compared with the control group, rats in the pancreatic trauma group with different injury areas exhibited obvious injuries (P < 0.05), and compared with the 3 cm2 trauma group, the 6 cm2 trauma group exhibited the more severe injury (P < 0.05). After modeling, the injury characteristics at different time points showed stable differences(P < 0.05). Conclusions: A rat pancreatic trauma model based on injury area control was successfully established using the impactor developed in this study. This model is simple, effective, controllable, and suitable for animal experimental research on pancreatic trauma.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSES: There have been many efforts to improve the service of emergency centers. In spite of these, no evidence is showing any landmark advancement of emergency services, especially in the hospital stage, exists. We need some efficient standard criteria to evaluate emergency service in the hospital stage, and a useful method might utilize the overcrowding index. We want to know the change in the overcrowding index at a regional emergency center after injury area administration. Injury area means an area in which only an assigned duty physician manages patients with injuries such as those from traffic accidents, falls, assualts, collisions, lacerations, amputations, burns, intoxication, asphyxia, drowning, animal bites, sexual assualts, etc. METHODS: We started to operate an injury area in our emergency department from late 2004, and from January to June in 2004 and in 2005, we collected patients' data, age, sex, assigned department, and result from hospital order communication system to figure out overcrowding indices and result indices. We found the daily number of patients, the turnover rate, the admission rate, the ICU admission rate, the emergency operation rate, the ED stay duration, and the ED patient volume to be overcrowding indices. Also we found the withdrawal rate, the transfer rate, and mortality to be result indices. We compared these indices between 2004 to 2005 by using a t-test. RESULTS: There was a significant increase in the daily number of visiting patients in 2005, overcrowding indices, such as the turnover rate, the admission rate, the ICU admission rate, and the emergency operation rate, also showed statistically significant increases in 2005 (P<0.001). As for the result indices, there was a noticeable decrease in the number of withdrawals (11.77/day in 2004 to 4.53/day in 2005). CONCLUSION: Operating an injury area in a mildly overcrowded local emergency center is beneficial. Evaluating the effect of operating an injury area and it's impact on hospital finances by conducting a similar study analyziing patients for a longer duration would be valuable.
