Factors Associated With Successful Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery for Traumatic Hemothorax in Children: A Cross-Sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION: Due to the rarity of traumatic hemothorax in children, no studies have evaluated factors associated with successful video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) as definitive management. METHODS: We conducted an exploratory cross-sectional analysis of pediatric patients in the Trauma Quality Programs database from 2008 to 2017 with traumatic hemothorax managed with primary VATS. Those with early resuscitative thoracotomy for cardiac arrest were excluded. We stratified patients by blunt or penetrating mechanism and estimated absolute differences (ADs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to identify factors associated with successful VATS without conversion to thoracotomy or reoperation. RESULTS: A total of 293 patients were eligible. Among 184 penetrating injuries, 150 (82%) underwent successful VATS, 6 (3%) required reoperation, and 28 (15%) converted to thoracotomy. Diaphragmatic injuries (AD = -28, 95% CI = -46 to -10) and rib fractures (AD = 12, 95% CI = 1 to 23) had the strongest negative and positive associations (respectively) with successful VATS. There were 109 blunt injuries: 86 (79%) underwent successful VATS, 6 (6%) required reoperation, and 17 (16%) converted to thoracotomy. Moderate or severe head injury (AD = -15, 95% CI = -32 to 2), injury severity score >15 (AD = -19, 95% CI = -33 to -5), and the presence of diaphragmatic injury (AD = -38, 95% CI = -71 to -4) had the strongest negative associations with successful VATS. CONCLUSIONS: Some children with traumatic hemothorax can be successfully managed with VATS. For penetrating mechanism, diaphragmatic injuries were associated with less success, while rib fractures were associated with more success. For blunt mechanism, diaphragmatic injuries, injury severity score >15, or moderate or severe head injury were associated with less success.

Use of minimally invasive surgery for the management of hollow viscus traumatic injuries.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study is to assess surgical outcomes following the initial use of laparoscopy versus laparotomy when managing patients with hollow viscus injuries due to trauma. METHODS: Using the database from the American College of Surgeons Trauma Quality Improvement Program we identified all patients from 2015-2017 with ICD-10 Diagnosis codes for hollow viscus trauma. Types of procedures were identified by ICD-10 PCS codes. Patient outcomes were stratified by major trauma(ISS > 15) and minor trauma. Continuous variables were compared by ANOVA and categorical variables compared by Chi-Square. Analysis performed using STATA 16. RESULTS: We identified 16,284 patients that matched inclusion criteria within the study time frame. Of those, 1986 patients received a surgical intervention, 1911(96%) were open and 75(4%) were laparoscopic. In blunt trauma there were 106 diagnostic procedures, 87(82%) were open and 19(18%) were laparoscopic. There were 574 therapeutic procedures, 543(95%) were open and 31(5%) were laparoscopic. In penetrating trauma there were 223 diagnostic procedures, 215(96%) were open and 8(4%) were laparoscopic. There were 1039 therapeutic procedures for penetrating trauma, 1023(98%) were open and 16(2%) were laparoscopic. For minor trauma, mean length of stay(days) after open surgery was 5 while for laparoscopy it was 2 (p = 0.04). There were 203 complications noted in the open group and 7 in the laparoscopic group (p = 0.19). For major trauma, mean length of stay(days) after open surgery was 5 and 6 for laparoscopy p = 0.54). There were 242 complications in the open group and 1 in the laparoscopic group (p = 0.07). There was no noted significant difference noted in the disposition at discharge in either group in both major and minor trauma. CONCLUSIONS: For those that required surgery for hollow viscous injury, laparoscopy appeared to be safe, had less adverse outcomes and was underutilized, particularly when only a diagnostic procedure was required.