Therapeutic strategies for pseudoaneurysm following blunt liver and spleen injuries: A multicenter cohort study in the pediatric population.

BACKGROUND: Little guidance exists for the treatment of pseudoaneurysm (PA) following pediatric blunt liver and/or spleen injuries (BLSIs). We aimed to describe the incidence of delayed PA development and the subsequent clinical course of PA in pediatric BLSIs. METHODS: This multicenter retrospective cohort study from Japan included pediatric patients (16 years and younger) who sustained BLSIs from 2008 to 2019. The cohort was divided into four groups based on hemostatic intervention within 48 hours of admission, namely, nonoperative management (NOM), NOM with interventional radiology (IR), operative management (OM), and combined IR/OM. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the incidence of delayed PA among the groups and to characterize the clinical course of any PAs. RESULTS: A total of 1,407 children (median age, 9 years) from 83 institutions were included. The overall number (incidence) of cases of delayed PA formation was 80 (5.7%), and the number with delayed PA rupture was 16 cases (1.1%) in the entire cohort. Patients treated with NOM (1,056), NOM with IR (276), OM (53), and combined IR/OM (22) developed 43 (4.1%), 32 (12%), 2 (3.8%), and 3 (14%) delayed PAs, respectively. Among patients who developed any PAs, 39% of patients underwent prophylactic IR for unruptured PA, while 13% required emergency angioembolization for delayed PA rupture, with one ruptured case requiring total splenectomy. At least 45% of patients experienced spontaneous resolution of PA without any interventions. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the risk of delayed PA still exists even after acute phase IR as an adjunct to NOM for BLSIs in children, indicating the necessity of a period of further observation. While endovascular interventions are usually successful for PA management, including rupture cases, given the high incidence of spontaneous resolution, the ideal management of PA remains to be investigated in future studies. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic/Care Management; Level IV.

A case of severe hemorrhagic shock caused by traumatic avulsion of uterine fibroid.

Case presentation: A 40-year-old woman was injured in a motor vehicle accident. Physician-staffed helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) was dispatched, and after the HEMS physician performed thoracostomy and tracheal intubation to relieve the tension pneumothorax and hemorrhagic shock, her carotid artery became unpalpable. The physician then decided to perform prehospital resuscitative thoracotomy. Immediately after arriving at the hospital, an emergency laparotomy was performed. Intraoperative findings showed that a huge uterine fibroid had been avulsed from the uterine wall, and we performed temporary hemostasis by extraction of the avulsed tumor and application of packing to the pelvic cavity. She was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital 42 days after the operation. Conclusion: The injury mechanism in this case was considered a "submarine effect." This was an extremely rare case in which the acute care surgeon and a gynecologist collaboratively employed a damage control strategy to deal with impending cardiac arrest.

Emergent surgery for cardiac herniation coexisting with complex blunt cardiac injury: A case report.

A 38-year-old man was pressed on his trunk by a heavy object weighing about 100 kg. The patient was in shock status on arrival to the hospital. Circular collapse progressed rapidly during contrast computed tomography (CT) scanning. CT images revealed exacerbation of the right lateral deviation of the heart that was earlier seen on X-ray imaging. Considering cardiac herniation based on CT findings, we immediately performed resuscitative thoracotomy and clamshell thoracotomy at the emergency department. Intraoperative findings showed a pericardial defect, and the heart had deviated to the right thoracic cavity. Immediate repositioning revealed a marked improvement in circulation. Full-thickness cardiac injury was observed in the anterior wall of the left ventricle; no active bleeding was observed. We performed temporary thoracic wall closure after cardiorraphy for damage control. After admission to the intensive care unit, he presented with respiratory failure associated with pulmonary contusion. Therefore, veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (V-V ECMO) was used from the 2nd to the 5th hospital day. After confirming no intra-thoracic events on the 6th hospital day, chest wall closure was performed. The patient subsequently developed heart failure and mitral regurgitation associated with papillary muscle rupture. On the 62nd hospital day, he underwent mitral annuloplasty at the cardiovascular surgery division; After rehabilitation till 152nd hospital day, he was discharged without any neurological abnormality. This was an extremely rare case with concomitant full-thickness myocardial injury, intracardiac injury, and cardiac herniation. Rapid resuscitative thoracotomy and damage control including V-V ECMO yielded good results. Retrospectively, cardiac herniation should have been suspected earlier basis this observation. Our report highlights that cardiac herniation should be considered in case of cardiac shadow aberrations in cases of blunt chest trauma, familiarity with condition and its characteristic imaging findings are critical for the doctor overseeing initial trauma treatment.

Current status and management of pancreatic trauma with main pancreatic duct injury: A multicenter nationwide survey in Japan.

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic trauma is reportedly associated with high morbidity and mortality. Main pancreatic duct (MPD) injury is critical for treatment. METHODS: As a study project of the Japanese Society for Abdominal Emergency Medicine (JSAEM), we collected the data of 163 patients with pancreatic trauma who were diagnosed and treated at JSAEM board-certified hospitals from 2006 to 2016. Clinical backgrounds, diagnostic approaches, management strategies, and outcomes were evaluated. RESULTS: Sixty-four patients (39%) were diagnosed as having pancreatic trauma with MPD injury that resulted in 3% mortality. Blunt trauma and isolated pancreatic injury were independent factors predicting MPD injury. Nine of 11 patients with MPD injury who were initially treated nonoperatively had serious clinical sequelae and five (45%) required surgery as a secondary treatment. Among all cases, the detectability of MPD injury of endoscopic retrograde pancreatography (ERP) was superior to that of other imaging modalities (CT or MRI), with higher sensitivity and specificity (sensitivity = 0.96; specificity = 1.0). CONCLUSIONS: Acceptable outcomes were observed in pancreatic trauma patients with MPD injury. Nonoperative management should be carefully selected for MPD injury. ERP is recommended to be performed in patients with suspected MPD injury and stable hemodynamics.

Advanced cadaver-based educational seminar for trauma surgery using saturated salt solution-embalmed cadavers.

AIM: Senior surgeons in Japan who participated in "cadaver-based educational seminar for trauma surgery (CESTS)" subsequently stated their interest in seminars for more difficult procedures. Therefore, we held a 1-day advanced-CESTS with saturated salt solution (SSS)-embalmed cadavers and assessed its effectiveness for surgical skills training (SST). METHODS: Data were collected from three seminars carried out from September 2015 to January 2018, including a 10-point self-assessment of confidence levels (SACL) questionnaire on nine advanced surgical skills, and evaluation of seminar content before, just after, and half a year after the seminar. Participants assessed the suitability of the two embalming methods (formalin solution [FAS] and SSS) for SST, just after the seminar. Statistical analysis resulted in P < 0.0167 comparing SACL results from seminar evaluations at the three time points and P < 0.05 comparing FAS to SSS. RESULTS: Forty-three participants carried out surgical procedures of the lung, liver, abdominal aorta, and pelvis and extremity. The SACL scores increased in all skills between before and just after the seminar, but were decreased by half a year after. However, SACL scores of each skill did not change significantly, except for external fixation for pelvic fracture at just after and half a year after. The SSS-embalmed cadavers were evaluated as being more suitable than FAS-embalmed cadavers for each procedure. CONCLUSIONS: Advanced-CESTS using SSS-embalmed cadavers increased the participants' self-confidence just after the seminar, which was maintained after half a year in each skill, except external fixation for pelvic fracture. Therefore, SSS-embalmed cadavers are useful for SST, particularly for surgical repairs.

Impact of urgent resuscitative surgery for life-threatening torso trauma.

PURPOSE: This study investigated the advantages of performing urgent resuscitative surgery (URS) in the emergency department (ED); namely, our URS policy, to avoid a delay in hemorrhage control for patients with severe torso trauma and unstable vital signs. METHODS: We divided 264 eligible cases into a URS group (n = 97) and a non-URS group (n = 167) to compare, retrospectively, the observed survival rate with the predicted survival using the Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS). RESULTS: While the revised trauma score and the injury severity score were significantly lower in the URS group than in the non-URS group, the observed survival rate was significantly higher than the predicted rate in the URS (48.5 vs. 40.2%; p = 0.038). URS group patients with a systolic blood pressure (SBP) <90 mmHg and a Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score of ≥9 had significantly higher observed survival rates than predicted survival rates (0.433 vs. 0.309, p = 0.008), (0.795 vs. 0.681, p = 0.004). The implementation of damage control surgery (DCS) was found to be a significant predictor of survival (OR 5.23, 95% CI 0.113-0.526, p < 0.010). CONCLUSION: The best indications for the URS policy are an SBP <90 mmHg, a GCS ≥9 on ED arrival, and/or the need for DCS. By implementing our URS policy, satisfactory survival of patients requiring immediate hemostatic surgery was achieved.

The Pedicled Omental Flap Technique for Treating Extensive Defects or Soft-Tissue Infection of the Pelvic Area: A Report of 2 Cases.

Severe trauma injuries, such as open pelvic fractures and degloving injuries, have recently become salvageable. However, extensive soft-tissue defects often remain and can lead to disuse atrophy of the extremities, prolonged hospital stays, and numerous other problems. Such injuries can be easily and effectively treated by a general trauma surgeon performing the pedicled omental flap technique. We report on 2 highly diverse and complicated cases of soft-tissue defect that were both successfully treated with this technique. One case was an extensive right-sided defect of the pelvic soft-tissue in a 20-year-old woman. The other case was in a 55-year-old man who underwent emergency artificial vessel replacement surgery for a femoral artery tear with severe damage to the surrounding muscle. Although the surgery was successful, a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection developed around the artificial vessel 10 days after surgery. In both cases, the pedicled omental flap technique was successfully performed and yielded epithelization without serious infection and with the infection subsiding with wound-area healing. To our knowledge, the pedicled omental flap technique has rarely been used to treat severe trauma, and our results suggest its usefulness for both preventing infection in large wounds and healing infected wounds.

Cuprizone short-term exposure: astrocytic IL-6 activation and behavioral changes relevant to psychosis.

A growing body of evidence suggests the involvement of inflammatory processes in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Four- to 8-week exposure to cuprizone, a copper chelator, causes robust demyelination and has been used to build a model for multiple sclerosis. In contrast, we report here the effects of 1-week cuprizone exposure in mice. This short-term cuprizone exposure elicits behavioral changes that include augmented responsiveness to methamphetamine and phencyclidine, as well as impaired working memory. The cellular effects of 1-week cuprizone exposure differ substantially from the longer-term exposure; perturbation of astrocytes and microglia is induced without any sign of demyelination. Furthermore, the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 was significantly up-regulated in glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-positive cells. We propose that this cuprizone short-term exposure may offer a model to study some aspects of biology relevant to schizophrenia and related conditions.