Do we need neuroimaging in every case of near-hanging?: experience from a level 1 trauma center and analysis of the National Trauma Data Bank.

PURPOSE: Our study analyzes imaging results in near-hanging to determine what neuroimaging workup is necessary. We evaluate GCS as a clinical predictor to help guide imaging choice. METHODS: This is a retrospective study of patients from a level one trauma center and from the National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB). We classified injuries into categories based on the likelihood that CT played an important role in their diagnosis and management. We assessed whether a normal Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) could exclude clinically important injuries. Chi square was used to test for significance for categorical variables. Multivariate logistic regression was used for multivariate analysis. RESULTS: CT showed structural brain findings in 0% of patients from our facility (local patients) and 11.7% of NTDB patients. Of local patients and NTDB patients, 1.4% and 6.6% had blunt cerebral vascular injury (BCVI) respectively. Of local patients and NTDB patients, 1.4% and 3.3% had a cervical spine fracture or dislocation, respectively. Mortality for patients with GCS 15 versus GCS < 15 was 0 versus 26.9% for local patients (p = 0.004) and 0 versus 43.8% for NTDB (p < 0.001). Structural brain injury for patients with GCS 15 versus GCS < 15 for isolated hanging was 0 versus 14.9% for NTDB (p < 0.001). GCS 15 was an independent predictor of survival and freedom from brain injury (p < 0.001), but not neck injury. CONCLUSION: GCS 15 is a significant independent predictor of survival and freedom from brain injury in near-hanging. GCS 15 rules out intracranial injury likely to require intervention with negative predictive value of 100%. GCS of 15 does not rule out critical neck injury.

Accuracy of ct evaluation for cervical spine clearance in the ground level fall population - a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Clinically occult cervical spine (CS) injuries are well described in blunt trauma, however delay in identifying these injuries and clearing the CS can result in morbidity. Our study examines the ground level fall (GLF) population to analyze whether computed tomography (CT) alone can rule out unstable injury in this group with lower force mechanism. METHODS: This is a single center, retrospective cohort study. All GLF patients in the institutional trauma registry between 6/1/2012 through 12/31/2019 were included. These comprise all trauma patients evaluated in the emergency department with Injury Severity Score (ISS) > 0, including both activations and consults with both clinical and radiological spine evaluation. Patients who could not be cleared by National Emergency X-ray Utilization Study (NEXUS) criteria underwent CT. Patients with CT or clinical suspicion of cord or ligamentous injury underwent MRI. CT occult injuries were identified by MRI and clinical exam, with MRI identifying all unstable injuries. RESULTS: Sixty-nine (2.0%) of patients had CS injury without acute CT abnormality. Of these, 11 (0.3%) required surgery and were considered unstable. All patients who required surgery had a neurologic deficit. Negative predictive value (NPV) of CT for unstable CS injury was 99.7%. The combination of acute CT findings and neurologic deficit ruled out unstable CS injury with 100% NPV. CONCLUSION: In the GLF population, CT alone rules out unstable CS injury with high, but not perfect NPV. The combination of absence of acute CT findings and acute neurologic deficits rules out unstable CS injury with 100% NPV.

Minimally invasive management versus open surgery in the treatment of penetrating bladder injuries: a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: While blunt extra-peritoneal bladder injury is typically treated non-operatively or with minimally invasive management, the treatment for penetrating bladder injury is generally open surgery. We identify a group of patients with penetrating bladder injury who were treated with minimally invasive management and compare the results with those who underwent traditional open surgical treatment. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study analyzes penetrating bladder injuries from a single trauma center from 2012 through 2019, and from the National Trauma Data Bank for 2016 and 2017. Mortality, complications, and length of stay were compared for minimally invasive management versus open surgery. We used Chi square to test significance for categorical variables, Mann-Whitney U test for ordinal variables, and T-test for continuous variables. Multivariate analysis was performed with multiple logistic, ordinal, and linear regression. RESULTS: Local: 117 (0.63%) had a bladder injury; 30 (25.6%) were penetrating. 6 (20.0%) were successfully treated with minimally invasive management with no complication versus 24 complications in 11 patients (45.8%) for open surgery (p = 0.047). Open surgical management was not a significant independent predictor of mortality or hospital length of stay. National Trauma Data Bank: 5330 (0.27%) had a bladder injury; 963 (19.5%) were penetrating. 97 (10.1%) were treated with minimally invasive management. The minimally invasive management group had 12 complications in 5 patients (4.9%) versus 280 complications in 169 patients (19.7%) for open surgery (p = < 0.001). Open surgery was a significant independent predictor of complications (OR 1.57, p = 0.003) and longer hospital length of stay (B = 5.31, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Most penetrating bladder injury requires open surgery, however a small proportion can safely be managed with minimally invasive management. Minimally invasive management is associated with lower total complications and shorter hospital length of stay in select patients.

Development of a gastrocutaneous fistula from a marginal ulcer after repair of duodenal injury with pyloric exclusion.

Introduction: Duodenal trauma is rare but can be associated with significant morbidity and mortality (Pandey et al., 2011). Adjunct procedures, such as pyloric exclusion, can be performed to assist in surgical repair of these injuries. However, pyloric exclusion can lead to severe long-term complications associated with significant morbidity that can be difficult to repair. Case: A 35-year-old man with a history of duodenal trauma from a gunshot wound (GSW) status post pyloric exclusion and Roux-en-Y gastrojejunostomy presented to the Emergency Department (ED) with complaints of abdominal pain and leakage of food particles and fluid from an open wound around his surgical scar. Computed tomography (CT) scan on admission showed a tract extending from the gastrojejunostomy anastomosis to the skin representing a fistula. Esophago-gastro-duodenoscopy (EGD) reconfirmed a large marginal ulcer that had fistulized to the skin. After nutritional repletion, the patient was taken to the operating room (OR) for takedown of the enterocutaneous fistula and Roux-en-Y gastrojejunostomy, closure of gastrostomy and enterotomy, pyloroplasty and feeding jejunostomy tube placement. The patient was re-admitted after discharge with abdominal pain, vomiting and early satiety. EGD showed gastric outlet obstruction and severe pyloric stenosis which was managed with endoscopic balloon dilation. Conclusion: This case represents the severe and potentially life-threatening complications that may occur after pyloric exclusion with Roux-en-Y gastrojejunostomy. Gastrojejunostomies are prone to marginal ulceration which can perforate if not adequately treated. Free perforations cause peritonitis, but if the perforation is contained it can erode through the abdominal wall creating the rare complication of a gastrocutaneous fistula. Even after restoration of normal anatomy with a pyloroplasty, patients may suffer additional complications such as pyloric stenosis requiring continued intervention.

In Solid Organ Injury Patients Requiring Blood Transfusion, Hemostatic Procedures are Associated with Improved Survival Over Observation.

Introduction: Selective nonoperative management (NOM) is the standard of care for blunt solid organ injury (SOI). Hemodynamic instability is a contraindication for NOM, but it is unclear whether the need for blood transfusion should be a criterion for instability. This study looks at the outcome of blood-transfused SOI patients to determine whether NOM is safe for this group. Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study using the National Trauma Data Bank years 2017 through 2019. We selected patients with blunt liver, spleen, and kidney injuries. Within this group, we compared the mortality for those managed with NOM versus the hemostatic procedures of laparotomy and angioembolization. Significance for univariate analysis is tested with Chi-square for categorical variables. Multivariate analysis is performed with Cox proportional hazards regression with time-dependent covariate. Results: 108,718 (3.5%) patients for the years 2017 through 2019 had a SOI. 20,569 (18.9%) of these received at least one unit of packed red blood cells (PRBCs) within the first 4 h. Of the SOI patients who received blood, 8264 (40.2%) underwent laparotomy only, 2924 (14.2%) underwent embolization only, and 1119 (5.4%) underwent both procedures. The adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of death for transfused SOI patients who underwent laparotomy only, embolization only, and both procedures are 0.93 (P = not significant), 0.27 (P < 0.001), and 0.48 (P < 0.001), respectively. The ORs of death with laparotomy for patients receiving >1 through 4 units are 0.87, 0.78, 0.75, and 0.72, respectively (P ≤ 0.01 for all). For embolization, the ORs are 0.27, 0.30, 0.30, and 0.30, respectively (P < 0.001 for all). Conclusion: Laparotomy is independently associated with survival for patients who receive >1 unit of PRBCs. Angioembolization is independently associated with survival for the entire cohort, including transfused patients. Given the protective association of laparotomy in the blood-transfused SOI group, need for blood transfusion should be considered a meaningful index of instability and a relative indication for laparotomy. The protective association with angioembolization supports current practices for angioembolization of high-risk patients in the transfused and nontransfused groups.

Traumatic blunt urethral injuries in females A retrospective study of the National Trauma Data Bank.

INTRODUCTION: Female blunt urethral injury (FBUI) is much less common than in males. Due to this rarity, studies of FBUI are largely confined to smaller case series. This study analyzes circumstances associated with FBUI and its contribution to mortality in greater detail. METHODS: Using the National Trauma Data Bank, we analyzed predictors of FBUI, and tested FBUI as a predictor of mortality. Univariate analysis used Chi-squared for categorical data and T-test for continuous data. Multivariate analysis used multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: A total of 245 (0.021%) of 1 185 904 female blunt trauma patients sustained FBUI vs. 2242 (0.145%) for males (p<0.001). Eighty-seven FBUIs (0.097%) occurred under age 16 vs. 153 (0.016%) in older patients (p<0.001). FBUI was more common with motorcycle (n=14, 0.203%), bicycle (n=11, 0.110%), and automobile vs. pedestrian accidents (n=47, 0.146%) than falls (n=72, 0.011%) or automobile accidents (n=61, 0.029%) (p<0.001). FBUI occurred in 114 (0.011%) patients with Injury Severity Score (ISS) <15 vs. 131 (0.091%) with ISS >15 (p<0.001). Slightly more than half (56.7%) of FBUI occurred with pelvic fractures. Age (odds ratio [OR ] 0.95, p<0.001), injury severity (OR 1.05, p<0.001), auto vs. pedestrian (OR 4.1, p<0.001), motorcycle crashes (OR 6.9, p<0.001), and bicycle crashes (OR 3.9, p<0.001) independently predicted FBUI. A total of 9.4% of FBUI patients died vs. 2.5% without FBUI (p<0.001). The association of FBUI with death was not significant on multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: FBUI is more prevalent in young patients with high-force direct trauma. FBUI is not an independent predictor of mortality, suggesting that it is a marker of severe injury rather than a direct cause of death.

Elevated Cardiac Troponin Is Most Often Associated With Type 2 Myocardial Infarction in Trauma Patients.

Introduction Cardiac troponin (cTn) forms an essential part of the diagnostic criteria for myocardial infarction (MI). Type 1 MI is a primary coronary arterial event, whereas type 2 MI is due to coronary oxygen supply/demand mismatch, which is common in trauma patients. In addition, cTn may be elevated for many reasons other than MI. cTn elevations in trauma may not be specific for MI amenable to revascularization. The aim of this study is to determine which subset of trauma patients benefits from measuring cTn, and which patients with elevated cTn benefit from ischemic workup. Methods This is a retrospective cohort study. All patients on the trauma service of a level 1 trauma center with cTn elevated above the upper reference value of 0.032 ng/ml from July 2017 through December 2020 were selected. Baseline characteristics were recorded. The main outcomes were cardiology determination of the etiology of elevated cTn and patient survival. Logistic regression was used for multivariate analysis. Results One hundred forty-seven (147; 1.1%) of 13746 trauma patients had maximum cTn over the 99th percentile. Forty-one (27.5%) of the 147 had ischemic changes on electrocardiogram (ECG). Sixty-four (43.0%) had chest pain. In 81 (55.1%) cases, cTn was ordered without a clearly justified indication. One hundred thirty-seven patients (93.3%) received a cardiology consult. Two (1.5%) of 137 patients had a type 1 MI, which was diagnosed by ECG and clinical symptoms before cTn results were available. One hundred thirty-five patients were evaluated for cardiac ischemia based on elevated cTn. In 91 (66.4%) cases, the elevated cTn was attributed to a cardiac oxygen supply/demand mismatch. The etiology was cardiac contusion for 26 (19.0%), with the rest attributed to various other trauma-related causes. The cardiology consult changed management for 90 (65.7%) patients, mainly consisting of further evaluation by echocardiogram for 78 (57.0%) patients. Elevated cTn was a significant independent predictor of death with an adjusted odds ratio of 2.6 (p=0.002). Conclusion Isolated cTn values in trauma are most often due to type 2 MI resulting from trauma-related issues, such as tachycardia and anemia, which affect myocardial oxygen supply and demand. Changes in management generally consisted of further workup and interventions such as monitoring and pharmacologic treatment. Elevated cTn in this cohort never led to revascularization but was valuable to identify patients who required more intensive monitoring, longer-term follow-up, and supportive cardiac care. More selective ordering of cTn would improve specificity for patients requiring specialized cardiac care.

Association of Time to Definitive Hemostasis With Mortality in Patients With Solid Organ Injuries.

Introduction The Golden Hour is a term used in the trauma setting to refer to the first 60 minutes after injury. Traditionally, definitive care within this period was believed to dramatically increase a patient's survival. Though the period of 60 minutes is unlikely to represent a point of distinct inflection in survival, the effect of time to definitive care on survival remains incompletely understood. This study aims to measure the association of time to definitive hemostasis with mortality in patients with solid organ injuries as well as the effect of survival bias and a form of selection bias known as indication by severity on the relationship between time to treatment and survival. Methodology This is a retrospective cohort study using data obtained from the American College of Surgeons National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB) from the years 2017 through 2019 selecting patients treated for blunt liver, spleen, or kidney injury who required angioembolization or surgical hemostasis within six hours. A Cox proportional hazards regression was used to analyze time to death. The association of probability of death with time was examined with a multivariate logistic regression initially treating the relationship as linear and subsequently transforming time to hemostasis with restricted cubic splines to model a non-linear association with the outcome. To model survival and indication by severity bias, we created a computer-generated data set and used LOESS regressions to display curves of the simulated data. Results The multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis shows a coefficient of negative 0.004 for minutes to hemostasis with an adjusted hazard ratio of 0.9959 showing the adjusted hazard of death slightly diminishes with each increasing minute to hemostasis. The likelihood ratio chi-square difference between the model with time to hemostasis included as a linear term versus the model with the restricted cubic spline transformation is 97.46 (p<0.0001) showing the model with restricted cubic splines is a better fit for the data. The computer-generated data simulating treatment of solid organ injury with no programmed bias displays an almost linear association of mortality with increased treatment delay. When indications by severity bias and survival bias are introduced, the risk of death decreases with time to hemostasis as in the real-world data. Conclusion Decreasing mortality with increasing delay to hemostasis in trauma patients with solid organ injury is likely due to confounding due to indication by severity and survival bias. After taking these biases into account, the association of delayed hemostasis with better survival is not likely due to the benefit of delay but rather the delay sorts patients by severity of injury with those more likely to die being treated first. These biases are extremely difficult to eliminate which limits the ability to measure the true effect of delay with retrospective data. The findings may however be of value as a predictive model to anticipate the acuity of a patient after an interval of unavoidable delay such as with a long transfer time.

Fluid and Solute Intakes Show Minimal Association With Serum Sodium Levels in a Mixed ICU Population.

BACKGROUND:  Hyponatremia is common among hospital inpatients. It is generally due to excess free body water resulting from increased water intake and decreased water elimination due to underlying pathology and hormonal influence. However, supporting evidence is lacking for treating mild hyponatremia with fluid restriction. Our study examines the association between hyponatremia and fluid intake in acutely ill inpatients. We hypothesize that fluid intake is not closely associated with serum sodium (SNa). METHODS:  We conducted a retrospective study of hyponatremia using the Multiparameter Intelligent Monitoring in Intensive Care (MIMIC) III dataset, a public ICU registry. We analyzed fluid, sodium, and potassium intake with a mixed model linear regression with SNa as the outcome for hyponatremic and non-hyponatremic patients and cumulative total input from one to seven days. In addition, we compared a group of patients receiving less than one liter of fluid per day to a group receiving more than one liter. RESULTS:  The association of SNa with fluid intake was negative and statistically significant for most cumulative days of intake from one to seven for the total population and those with sporadic hyponatremia. For those with uniform hyponatremia, the negative association was significant for three and four days of cumulative input. The change in SNa was almost always less than 1 mmol/L of additional fluid intake across all groups. SNa for hyponatremic patients who received less than one liter of fluid per day were within one mmol/L of those who received more (p<0.001 for one, two, and seven cumulative intake days). CONCLUSIONS:  SNa is associated with a change of less than 1 mmol/L across a wide range of fluid and sodium intake in adult ICU patients. Patients who received less than one liter per day had SNa almost identical to those who received more. This suggests that SNa is not tightly coupled with fluid intake in the acutely ill population and that hormonal control of water elimination is the predominant mechanism. This might explain why the correction of hyponatremia by fluid restriction is often difficult.

Acute gastric perforation after leaving against medical advice: A case presentation.

INTRODUCTION: Gastric perforation with necrosis is rare following acute gastric dilation (AGD) and can be fatal. We present a case of a patient with AGD due to a binge-eating episode who left the emergency department (ED) against medical advice (AMA) only to return with gastric perforation and necrosis requiring total splenectomy and partial gastrectomy. CASE: A 28-year-old female without a remarkable past medical history presented to the ED with diffuse abdominal pain and obstipation after a three-day "food crawl." On admission, a computerized tomography (CT) scan revealed a markedly dilated stomach from the diaphragm to the pelvis with severe mass effect. The therapeutic plan at the time was gastric decompression via a nasogastric tube. The following day, the patient reported feeling better and left AMA only to return the same evening with worsening symptoms and peritoneal signs. The patient was then emergently taken to the operating room (OR). In the OR, laparotomy revealed frank spillage of partially digested food and necrosis along the greater curvature of the stomach that extended to the spleen. Damage control surgery was performed, which required a total splenectomy and a partial gastrectomy. The patient was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and subsequently underwent five more trips to the OR due to severe edema that delayed the primary closure of the fascia. Once the patient was transferred out of the ICU, she was evaluated by psychiatry and diagnosed with a binge-eating disorder. CONCLUSION: This case demonstrates the severity of acute gastric dilation and its potentially lethal consequences. In some cases, such as this one, the patient may present with mild symptoms and not comprehend the gravity of the situation. Therefore, it is important for clinicians to recognize this condition as a true emergency and perform immediate decompression and evaluation for surgery.

Increasing Rate of Pulmonary Embolism in Trauma Patients at a Level One Trauma Center: An Opportunity for Quality Improvement?

Introduction Pulmonary embolism (PE) is the most common cause of preventable hospital death in trauma patients, with 100,000 patients dying from PE annually. A steadily increasing PE rate was observed over seven years in the trauma population at a single level one trauma center. Our study seeks to analyze this trend by examining risk factors and searching for targets for improvement. We hypothesized that a change in one or more modifiable risk factors was associated with the increased PE rate.  Methods This retrospective cohort study considered trauma patients admitted to our trauma center between 2012 and 2018. The change in PE rate over time and correlation with various risk factors were examined using logistic regression. The study population was divided into two cohorts: early (2012-2015), and late (2016-2018). Data were collected from a prospectively maintained trauma database. More detailed information was obtained from individual patient charts for 533 patients worked up for PE. Risk factors were evaluated using both univariate and multivariate analysis. Results A total of 14,986 trauma patients were included in the study, of which 132 were diagnosed with PE. The PE rate was 1.11% in the late group compared to 0.67% in the early group (p=.004). We detected no association between the PE rate and preventive measures such as screening for and treating deep venous thrombosis (DVT), placing inferior vena cava (IVC) filters, and patterns of chemical DVT prophylaxis. We did not observe a distal migration of the anatomic distribution of PEs on CT pulmonary angiogram (CTPA). There were nonsignificant trends between PE rate and changes in population demographics and injury patterns, increased frequency of major surgery, and increased tranexamic acid (TXA) use. Of known risk factors for PE, units of packed red blood cells (PRBC) (p=0.041), units of fresh frozen plasma (FFP) (p=.037), and the number of patients receiving transfusion (p=0.043) were all significantly greater in the later period. Conclusion Change in hemostatic resuscitation practices (use of balanced ratios of blood products) is most likely to have contributed to the increased PE rate at our institution. However, PE in trauma is multifactorial, and the increased rate cannot be attributed to any single factor. We did not observe a lapse in preventive measures commonly considered indices of quality of care. Caution is advised against overreliance on PE rate as a measure of quality.

Endpoints in Vital Signs as a Useful Tool for Measuring Successful Needle Decompression After Traumatic Tension Pneumothorax: An Analysis of the National Emergency Medicine Information System Database.

Background Needle decompression is a useful tool in the pre-hospital setting for treating tension pneumothorax. However the specific improvements in vital signs that determine a successful decompression are only reported in a few studies and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) self-reported assessments of improvement are more commonplace. We hypothesize that EMS reports may exaggerate improvement when compared to objective vital sign changes. Methodology This is a retrospective cohort study using the National Emergency Medicine Information System (NEMSIS) for the year 2020. Vital signs recorded as objective endpoints include systolic blood pressure (SBP), pulse (HR), respiratory rate (RR), and oxygen saturation (SpO2). Univariate analysis was performed using the t-test for continuous variables and the chi-square test for categorical variables. Results A total of 8,219 calls were included in the sample size analyzed. Most patients were white (2,911, 35.4%) and male (6,694, 81.4%). Abnormal vitals recorded as indications for needle decompression included SBP <100 mmHg, HR <60 or >100 beats/minute, RR <12 or >20 breaths/minute, and SpO2 <93%. Statistically significant improvements were seen in the number of abnormal vital signs after the procedure. The percentage of improvement was higher in the EMS self-reported assessment than in objective findings for oxygen saturation and SBP. Conclusions Our analysis shows objective improvement of hypoxia and hypotension after field needle decompression, supporting the efficacy of the procedure. The improvement based on vital sign change is modest and is less than that reported by EMS assessment of global improvement. This represents a target for quality improvement in EMS practice.

Proposed management of traumatic blunt gallbladder injuries: A case of a pre-emptive laparoscopic cholecystectomy for suspected gallbladder avulsion after blunt traumatic liver injury.

Trauma is the leading cause of death among people aged 1-45 in the United States with the abdomen being the third most commonly injured anatomic region. The incidence of gallbladder trauma in the setting of abdominal injury ranges between 0.5 and 2.1 %. While gallbladder injuries secondary to penetrating abdominal wounds are found intra-operatively owing to the likely progression towards laparotomy, due to the paradigm shift of non-operative management of blunt liver injuries, the diagnosis of blunt gallbladder injuries are commonly delayed upwards of 1 to 6 weeks. 4 We present a case of a pre-emptive cholecystectomy less than 36 h after sustaining a grade V liver injury status post blunt abdominal trauma in effort emphasize the importance of critical review of diagnostic images, and support the utilization of diagnostic laparoscopy to definitively diagnose and manage traumatic blunt gallbladder injuries. When operative intervention is not performed, the nonspecific findings suggestive of gallbladder injuries can lead to delayed diagnosis and subsequent increased morbidity and mortality. Due to the lack of previous guidelines we propose a diagnostic algorithm for the approach of traumatic blunt gallbladder injuries.

Hospital-Acquired Condition Rate of Admitting Facility Does Not Predict Mortality in Traumatically Injured Patients.

BACKGROUND: Hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) are increasingly scrutinized as markers of hospital quality and are subject to increasing regulatory and financial pressure. Despite this, there is little evidence that HACs are associated with poor outcomes in traumatically injured patients, or that lower HAC rates are a marker of a better quality of care. Our study compares mortality rates in hospitals with high versus low rates of HAC. Our hypothesis is that high HAC trauma centers have higher mortality. METHODS: The latest editions of the National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB) containing facility identification keys (2011 to 2015) were combined. The HACs targeted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program (HACRP) were identified. Hospital-acquired conditions per 1000 patient-days were calculated for individual trauma centers, and these facilities were stratified into quartiles by HAC rate. Propensity score matching was used to match patients admitted to hospitals in the highest versus the lowest quartiles. RESULTS: Complete data was available for 3,510,818 patients; 58,296 (1.67%) developed HACs recorded in the NTDB. Good performing centers had a mean of 0.84 HACs per 1000 patient-days compared to 7.82 at poor-performing centers. After propensity matching, patients treated at good performing centers had higher mortality of 1.22% versus 1.02% at poor-performing centers (p<0.001). The facility characteristics most over-represented in the poor performing quartile were: University (45.19% vs 10.59%, p<0.001), American College of Surgeons (ACS) Level I Status (31.85% vs 2.24%, p<0.001), and bed size > 600 (28.15% vs 5.5%, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Injured patients treated at poor-performing centers (high HAC) have reduced mortality relative to good performing centers (low HAC). Large academic centers were overwhelmingly represented in the poor-performing quartile. Hospital-acquired conditions may be markers of a non-modifiable underlying patient and facility characteristics rather than markers of poor hospital quality.

Burn trauma from a space heater requiring paraspinal muscle flap back reconstruction with skin grafting: A case report.

Full-thickness burns damage all layers of skin and may also damage underlying tissue including bones, muscles, and tendons. Full-thickness burns almost always require immediate medical and surgical management. Some may require extensive bone, muscular, and other reconstructive surgery depending on the depth of involvement of surrounding tissues. Bone exposure in burn patients can lead to unique complications including osteomyelitis. We present the case of an elderly patient with a history of dementia who presented with full-thickness burns to the back with exposed spinal elements who later developed osteomyelitis requiring lumbar spine reconstruction with bilateral paraspinous muscle flap for back reconstruction, adjacent tissue transfer, and split thickness skin grafting. This case represents the severity of full-thickness burns with underlying bone exposure and the importance of aggressive wound care and multidisciplinary team approach.

Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis Causing Small Bowel Diverticulosis and Volvulus: A Case Report.

BACKGROUND Eosinophilic gastroenteritis is a broad classification of disease characterized by eosinophilic infiltration of the gastrointestinal tract in the absence of a stimulatory cause. Given the ability of eosinophilic gastroenteritis to affect the entire gastrointestinal tract, it can present in a variety of ways, from chronic intermittent pain to mechanical obstruction. We present a rare case in which eosinophilic gastroenteritis of the jejunum led to small bowel diverticulosis and volvulus, requiring surgery. CASE REPORT An 83-year-old woman with a history of chronic abdominal pain, nausea, and early satiety presented to our clinic after a thorough gastrointestinal workup and radiologic diagnosis of partial midgut volvulus. She underwent an exploratory laparotomy and was found to have normal rotational anatomy with prominent small bowel diverticulosis. A section of 70 cm of proximal jejunum was resected, encompassing all visible diverticula, and a primary anastomosis was performed. The patient recovered without complication. She was seen at follow-up with complete resolution of her presenting symptoms. CONCLUSIONS We propose that this patient's pathology was caused by chronic intermittent obstructions related to eosinophilic gastroenteritis, leading to repeated periods of increased intraluminal pressure and severe small bowel diverticulosis. This case highlights the importance of maintaining an index of suspicion for small bowel diverticulosis in the setting of chronic eosinophilic gastroenteritis.

Urine drug screen positive for cocaine and amphetamine is not an adverse risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity or mortality in trauma.

BACKGROUND: Urine drug screening (UDS) is a component of trauma workup and of perioperative risk evaluation. Illicit stimulant use has been associated with cardiovascular complications. This study investigates the impact of stimulant use and its interaction with surgery on cardiovascular complications in trauma patients. METHODS: Patients were identified from the 2017 National Trauma Data Bank. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to evaluate the effect of amphetamine and cocaine on mortality, myocardial infarction (MI), and stroke. We evaluated three subsets: all screened patients, those who underwent surgery, and those whose surgery was immediate. Significance was tested with χ2 test for categorical variables, Student's t-test for continuous variables, and logistic regression for multivariate analysis. RESULTS: 317 688 (32.1%) patients underwent UDS. Multivariate analysis showed protective association between cocaine and mortality OR 0.9 (p=0.028). Cocaine was a non-significant predictor of MI and stroke: OR 0.63 (p=0.065) and 0.91 (p=0.502), respectively. Amphetamine was a non-significant predictor of mortality, MI, and stroke: OR 0.97 (p=0.405), 0.80 (p=0.283), and 1.02 (p=0.857), respectively.On univariate analysis, amphetamine showed a protective association with MI for all screened patients: relative risk (RR) 0.58 (p=0.005), and for surgical patients: RR 0.58 (p=0.019). Amphetamine showed a protective association with mortality for all three subsets: RR 0.83 (p<0.001), 0.78 (p<0.001), and 0.71 (p<0.001), respectively. Cocaine showed a protective association with MI for all screened patients: RR 0.45 (p=0.001), and for surgical patients: RR 0.44 (p=0.005). Cocaine showed a protective association with mortality for all three subsets: RR 0.76 (p<0.001), 0.71 (p<0.001), and 0.63 (p<0.001), respectively. DISCUSSION: UDS positive for cocaine or amphetamine is not an adverse risk factor in trauma, including trauma patients who underwent surgery. The apparent protective effects of illicit drugs warrant further investigation. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic/care management, level IV.

Analysis of Predictors of Myocardial Infarction in Trauma With Development of a Trauma Cardiac Risk Index.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Trauma has historically been considered a disorder of the young and healthy, with a low risk of cardiac ischemia; hence most research on myocardial infarction in trauma has focused on direct cardiac damage from blunt chest trauma. However, the age and comorbidity of trauma patients are increasing, making the trauma population more vulnerable to myocardial infarction (MI). Cardiac risk assessment has emphasized morbidity and mortality in an elective surgical setting, but it is also important in acute trauma. Our study analyzes the risk factors for MI in a trauma population to create a scoring system to predict the risk of MI. DESIGN:  Retrospective cohort analysis of a national trauma registry over a five-year period. Potential predictors of MI in trauma patients were identified and tested with univariate and multivariate statistics. A numerical score was created to predict the risk of MI based on these criteria. SETTING: The National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB) is a large registry of selected trauma centers in the United States. Data include demographic, injury, treatment, and outcome variables pertaining to the index admission of each patient. The institutions range from community hospitals through level 1 trauma centers. The time period is the entire inpatient hospital admission from arrival from the field, through the emergency department, ICU, and floor up to discharge. PATIENTS: 3,437,959 trauma patients aged 18 years and older from various US trauma centers. 62.8% were male. The median age is 50 years with a standard deviation of 21.25. The median Injury Severity Score is 9 with a standard deviation of 9.04. MEASUREMENTS: Demographic, traumatic, and comorbidity variables were collected from the NTDB. The primary outcome was MI during the initial trauma admission. Multivariate analysis was performed with logistic regression. MAIN RESULTS: Over 8010 (0.23%) suffered an MI. The strongest risk factors for MI were a history of MI with an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 7.0, and angina with an OR of 3.4. A procedure under general anesthesia (GA) conferred an OR of 2.3. Minor risk factors included torso injury and 10-year age interval over 50, both with an OR of 1.7, a 20-point interval of the Injury Severity Score (ISS) with OR 1.6, male gender with OR of 1.5, and various chronic disease comorbidities with OR ranging from 1.4 to 1.9. A Trauma Cardiac Risk Index (TCRI) was derived from these risk factors. The model showed good discrimination with a C statistic of 0.85. CONCLUSIONS: Overall the trauma population has a low risk of MI. However, the risk is much higher for older patients with chronic comorbidity. The TCRI can be used to assess cardiac risk in trauma patients to help direct monitoring, testing, and risk reduction measures to those at the highest risk.

The Effect of Illegal Drug Screening Results and Chronic Drug Use on Perioperative Complications in Trauma.

CONTEXT: Illegal drug use and need for surgery are common in trauma. This allows examination of the effects of perioperative drug use. AIM: The aim was to study the effects of illegal drug use on perioperative complications in trauma. SETTING AND DESIGN: Propensity-matched analysis of perioperative complications between drug screen-positive (DSP) and drug screen-negative (DSN) patients from the National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB). METHODS: The NTDB reports drug screening as a composite. We compared complications for DSP, DSN, and specific chronic drug disorders. Time to first procedure was analyzed to determine whether delay to surgery was associated with reduced complications. STATISTICS: Logistic regression with 11 predictor variables was used to calculate propensity scores. Categorical and continuous variables were compared using Chi-square and Student's t-test, respectively. RESULTS: 752,343 patients (21.9%) were tested for illegal drugs. DSP was protective for mortality-relative risk (RR) 0.84 (P < 0.001) and arrhythmia RR 0.87 (P = 0.02). All complications (AC) were higher for DSP with a RR of 1.08 (P < 0.001). Cocaine, cannabis, and opioids were associated with reduced mortality. Cocaine was associated with increased myocardial infarction (MI). All four chronic drug disorders were associated with markedly higher arrhythmia. All except cannabis were associated with higher AC. Mortality was significantly lower for DSP for every time interval until first procedure. Continuous-time until procedure was associated with increased MI and arrhythmia. CONCLUSIONS: DSP was protective of mortality and cardiac complications. Drug disorders were protective for mortality but increased arrhythmia and AC. Delay until the surgery does not diminish cardiac or overall risk.