Comparison of two prognostic models in trauma outcome.

BACKGROUND: The Trauma Audit and Research Network (TARN) in the UK publicly reports hospital performance in the management of trauma. The TARN risk adjustment model uses a fractional polynomial transformation of the Injury Severity Score (ISS) as the measure of anatomical injury severity. The Trauma Mortality Prediction Model (TMPM) is an alternative to ISS; this study compared the anatomical injury components of the TARN model with the TMPM. METHODS: Data from the National Trauma Data Bank for 2011-2015 were analysed. Probability of death was estimated for the TARN fractional polynomial transformation of ISS and compared with the TMPM. The coefficients for each model were estimated using 80 per cent of the data set, selected randomly. The remaining 20 per cent of the data were used for model validation. TMPM and TARN were compared using calibration curves, measures of discrimination (area under receiver operating characteristic curves; AUROC), proximity to the true model (Akaike information criterion; AIC) and goodness of model fit (Hosmer-Lemeshow test). RESULTS: Some 438 058 patient records were analysed. TMPM demonstrated preferable AUROC (0·882 for TMPM versus 0·845 for TARN), AIC (18 204 versus 21 163) and better fit to the data (32·4 versus 153·0) compared with TARN. CONCLUSION: TMPM had greater discrimination, proximity to the true model and goodness-of-fit than the anatomical injury component of TARN. TMPM should be considered for the injury severity measure for the comparative assessment of trauma centres.

Congenital pressure necrosis of the forearm in a newborn infant.

The authors report a case of congenital pressure necrosis of the forearm presenting in a newborn infant. The patient presented with an edematous and purpuric upper extremity with no underlying vascular compromise. After demarcation of the nonviable tissue during the first month of life, the extremity was debrided, and a thin split-thickness skin graft was applied. Graft contracture over the subsequent year was released and reconstructed with a full-thickness skin graft. Patient follow-up at age 22 months demonstrated progressive return of strength and function of the extremity with restoration of soft-tissue bulk and contour. When presented with this unusual circumstance, the plastic surgeon should be familiar with its differential diagnosis and management. Conservative debridement and age-appropriate resurfacing of the remaining wound were the essential treatment principles followed in this patient.

The kleeblattschädel anomaly in Apert syndrome: intracranial anatomy, surgical correction, and subsequent cranial vault development.

We present a case of Apert syndrome in which intracranial anomalies of the cranial base were localized to the lesser wings of the sphenoid and sphenoid ridge. The lesser wings of the sphenoid were displaced superiorly to follow the fused coronal sutures bilaterally, where they met at a single point on the skull vertex. Careful preoperative study of the intracranial anatomy in the kleeblattschädel anomaly led to a surgical plan for early correction of the anomaly. The present report indicates that an aggressive approach to the correction of the kleeblattschädel anomaly beginning early in infancy can result in normalization of the trilobar skull configuration. Although this approach can correct the kleeblattschädel anomaly, 3.5-year follow-up in this patient with Apert syndrome demonstrates progressive turricephaly despite repeated cranial vault remodeling. Although the trilobar skull configuration can be corrected through early surgical intervention, the long-term correction of progressive turricephaly in patients with Apert syndrome remains an unsolved problem.