The Beirut Port Explosion Injuries and Lessons Learned: Results of the Beirut Blast Assessment for Surgical Services (BASS) Multicenter Study.

OBJECTIVE: This multicenter study aims to describe the injury patterns, emergency management and outcomes of the blast victims, recognize the gaps in hospital disaster preparedness, and identify lessons to be learned. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: On August 4th, 2020, the city of Beirut, Lebanon suffered the largest urban explosion since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulting in hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries. METHODS: All injured patients admitted to four of the largest Beirut hospitals within 72 hours of the blast, including those who died on arrival or in the emergency department (ED), were included. Medical records were systematically reviewed for: patient demographics and comorbidities; injury severity and characteristics; prehospital, ED, operative, and inpatient interventions; and outcomes at hospital discharge. Lessons learned are also shared. RESULTS: An estimated total of 1818 patients were included, of which 30 died on arrival or in the ED and 315 were admitted to the hospital. Among admitted patients, the mean age was 44.7 years (range: 1 week-93 years), 44.4% were female, and the median injury severity score (ISS) was 10 (5, 17). ISS was inversely related to the distance from the blast epicenter (r = --0.18, P = 0.035). Most injuries involved the upper extremities (53.7%), face (42.2%), and head (40.3%). Mildly injured (ISS <9) patients overwhelmed the ED in the first 2 hours; from hour 2 to hour 8 post-injury, the number of moderately, severely, and profoundly injured patients increased by 127%, 25% and 17%, respectively. A total of 475 operative procedures were performed in 239 patients, most commonly soft tissue debridement or repair (119 patients, 49.8%), limb fracture fixation (107, 44.8%), and tendon repair (56, 23.4%). A total of 11 patients (3.5%) died during the hospitalization, 56 (17.8%) developed at least 1 complication, and 51 (16.2%) were discharged with documented long-term disability. Main lessons learned included: the importance of having key hospital functions (eg, laboratory, operating room) underground; the nonadaptability of electronic medical records to disasters; the ED overwhelming with mild injuries, delay in arrival of the severely injured; and the need for realistic disaster drills. CONCLUSIONS: We, therefore, describe the injury patterns, emergency flow and trauma outcome of patients injured in the Beirut port explosion. The clinical and system-level lessons learned can help prepare for the next disaster.

Physicians' approach to end of life care: comparison of two tertiary care university hospitals in Lebanon.

BACKGROUND: The care of terminally ill patients is fraught with ethical and medical dilemmas carried by healthcare professionals. The present study aims to explore the approaches of Lebanese attending physicians towards palliative care, end of life (EOL) care, and patient management in two tertiary care university hospitals with distinct medical culture. METHODS: Four hundred attending physicians from the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) and Hotel Dieu de France (HDF) were recruited. Participants were Medical Doctors in direct contact with adult patients that could be subject to EOL situations providing relevant demographic, educational, religious as well as personal, medical or patient-centric data. RESULTS: The majority of physicians in both establishments were previously exposed to life-limiting decisions but remains uncomfortable with the decision to stop or limit resuscitation. However, physicians with an American training (AUBMC) were significantly more likely to exhibit readiness to initiate and discuss DNR with patients (p<0.0001). While the paternalistic medicinal approach was prevalent in both groups, physicians with a European training (HDF) more often excluded patient involvement based on family preference (p<0.0001) or to spare them from a traumatic situation (p=0.003). The majority of respondents reported that previous directives from the patient were fundamental to life-limiting decisions. However, the influence of patient and medical factors (e.g. culture, religion, life expectancy, age, socioeconomic status) was evidenced in the HDF group. CONCLUSION: Early physician-initiated EOL discussions remain challenged in Lebanon. Paternalistic attitudes limit shared decision making and are most evident in European-trained physicians. Establishing a sound and effective framework providing legal, ethical and religious guidance is thus needed in Lebanon.

Community- and healthcare-associated infections in critically ill patients: a multicenter cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the spectrum of infection, comorbidities, outcomes, and mortality of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) due to community-acquired or healthcare-associated severe sepsis. METHODS: This prospective cohort study was conducted in three university medical centers in Lebanon from February 2005 to December 2006. Patients with severe sepsis were included and followed up until hospital discharge or death. RESULTS: One hundred and twenty patients were included of whom 60% had community-acquired infections (CAI) and 40% had healthcare-associated infections (HAI). The most common infection in both groups was pneumonia. Hematologic malignancies were the only comorbidity more prevalent in HAI than in CAI (p=0.047). Fungal infections and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) organisms were more frequent in HAI than in CAI (p=0.04 and 0.029, respectively). APACHE and SOFA scores were high and did not differ between the two groups, nor did the proportion of septic shock, while mortality was significantly higher in the HAI patients than in the CAI patients (p=0.004). On multivariate analysis for mortality, independent risk factors were the source of infection acquisition (p=0.004), APACHE II score (p=0.006), multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas infections (p=0.043), and fungal infections (p=0.006). CONCLUSIONS: Severe sepsis and septic shock had a high mortality rate, especially in the HAI group. Patients with risk factors for increased mortality should be monitored and aggressive treatment should be administered.

Shoshin Beriberi in Critically-Ill patients: case series.

Thiamine plays a fundamental role in cellular metabolism. The classical syndrome caused by thiamine deficiency is beriberi, and its fulminant variant, once considered an uncommon finding, is now encountered among the critically ill.We present a case series of four critically ill non-septic non-alcoholic patients with severe lactic acidosis and refractory cardio-circulatory collapse caused by acute fulminant beriberi, which drastically responded to thiamine administration.In critical care settings, increased awareness of this life-threatening but reversible condition is a requirement, especially among patients receiving parenteral nutrition and those with unexplained recalcitrant lactic acidosis.

Management of postintubation tracheal stenosis: appropriate indications make outcome differences.

BACKGROUND: Laryngotracheal stenosis is difficult to treat and its etiologies are multiple; nowadays, the most common ones are postintubation or posttracheostomy stenoses. OBJECTIVE: To provide an algorithm for the management of postintubation laryngotracheal stenoses (PILTS) based on the experience of a tertiary care referral center. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted on all patients treated for PILTS over a 10-year period. Patients were divided into a surgically and an endoscopically treated group according to predefined criteria. The characteristics of the two groups were analyzed and the outcomes compared. RESULTS: Thirty-three consecutive patients were included in the study: 14 in the surgically treated group and 19 in the endoscopically treated group. Our candidates for airway surgery were healthy patients presenting with complex tracheal stenoses, subglottic involvement or associated tracheomalacia. The endoscopic candidates were chronically ill patients presenting with simple, strictly tracheal stenoses not exceeding 4 cm in length. Stents were placed if the stenosis was associated with tracheomalacia or exceeded 2 cm in total length. In the surgically treated group, 2/14 patients needed more than one procedure versus 8/19 patients in the endoscopically treated group. At the end of the intervention, 50% of the patients were decannulated in the surgically treated group versus 84.2% in the endoscopically treated group (p = 0.03). However, the decannulation rates at 6 months and the symptomatology at rest and on exertion on the last follow-up visit were comparable in the two groups. CONCLUSION: Our experience in the management of PILTS demonstrates that both surgery and endoscopy yield excellent functional outcomes if the treatment strategy is based on clear, predefined objective criteria.