Early versus Late Tracheostomy: Is There an Outcome Difference?

2019 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 370-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adel Elkbuli ◽  
Raed Ismail Narvel ◽  
Paul J. Spano ◽  
Valerie Polcz ◽  
Astrid Casin ◽  
...  

The effect of timing in patients requiring tracheostomy varies in the literature. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of early tracheostomy on outcomes in trauma patients with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI). This study is a four-year review of trauma patients undergoing tracheostomy. Patients were divided into two groups based on TBI/non-TBI. Each group was divided into three subgroups based on tracheostomy timing: zero to three days, four to seven days, and greater than seven days postadmission. TBI patients were stratified by the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), and non-TBI patients were stratified by the Injury Severity Score (ISS). The primary outcome was ventilator-free days (VFDs). Significance was defined as P < 0.05. Two hundred eighty-nine trauma patients met the study criteria: 151 had TBI (55.2%) versus 138 (47.8%) non-TBI. There were no significant differences in demographics within and between groups. In TBI patients, statistically significant increases in VFDs were observed with GCS 13 to 15 for tracheostomies performed in four to seven versus greater than seven days ( P = 0.005). For GCS <8 and 8 to 12, there were significant increases in VFDs for tracheostomies performed at days 1 to 3 and 4 to 7 versus greater than seven days (P << 0.05 for both). For non-TBI tracheostomies, only ISS ≥ 25 with tracheostomies performed at zero to three days versus greater than seven days was associated with improved VFDs. Early tracheostomies in TBI patients were associated with improved VFDs. In trauma patients with no TBI, early tracheostomy was associated with improved VFDs only in patients with ISS ≥ 25. Future research studies should investigate reasons TBI and non-TBI patients may differ.

Brain Injury ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (13-14) ◽  
pp. 1648-1653 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pål Rønning ◽  
Per Ole Gunstad ◽  
Nils-Oddvar Skaga ◽  
Iver Arne Langmoen ◽  
Knut Stavem ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (12) ◽  
pp. 4106-4117
Author(s):  
David Rösli ◽  
Beat Schnüriger ◽  
Daniel Candinas ◽  
Tobias Haltmeier

Abstract Background Accidental hypothermia is a known predictor for worse outcomes in trauma patients, but has not been comprehensively assessed in a meta-analysis so far. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to investigate the impact of accidental hypothermia on mortality in trauma patients overall and patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) specifically. Methods This is a systematic review and meta-analysis using the Ovid Medline/PubMed database. Scientific articles reporting accidental hypothermia and its impact on outcomes in trauma patients were included in qualitative synthesis. Studies that compared the effect of hypothermia vs. normothermia at hospital admission on in-hospital mortality were included in two meta-analyses on (1) trauma patients overall and (2) patients with TBI specifically. Meta-analysis was performed using a Mantel–Haenszel random-effects model. Results Literature search revealed 264 articles. Of these, 14 studies published 1987–2018 were included in the qualitative synthesis. Seven studies qualified for meta-analysis on trauma patients overall and three studies for meta-analysis on patients with TBI specifically. Accidental hypothermia at admission was associated with significantly higher mortality both in trauma patients overall (OR 5.18 [95% CI 2.61–10.28]) and patients with TBI specifically (OR 2.38 [95% CI 1.53–3.69]). Conclusions In the current meta-analysis, accidental hypothermia was strongly associated with higher in-hospital mortality both in trauma patients overall and patients with TBI specifically. These findings underscore the importance of measures to avoid accidental hypothermia in the prehospital care of trauma patients.


2008 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant V. Bochicchio ◽  
Kimberly Lumpkins ◽  
James O'Connor ◽  
Marc Simard ◽  
Stacey Schaub ◽  
...  

High-pressure waves (blast) account for the majority of combat injuries and are becoming increasingly common in terrorist attacks. To our knowledge, there are no data evaluating the epidemiology of blast injury in a domestic nonterrorist setting. Data were analyzed retrospectively on patients admitted with any type of blast injury over a 10-year period at a busy urban trauma center. Injuries were classified by etiology of explosion and anatomical location. Eighty-nine cases of blast injury were identified in 57,392 patients (0.2%) treated over the study period. The majority of patients were male (78%) with a mean age of 40 ± 17 years. The mean Injury Severity Score was 13 ± 11 with an admission Trauma and Injury Severity Score of 0.9 ± 0.2 and Revised Trauma Score of 7.5 ± 0.8. The mean intensive care unit and hospital length of stay was 2 ± 7 days and 4.6 ± 10 days, respectively, with an overall mortality rate of 4.5 per cent. Private dwelling explosion [n = 31 (35%)] was the most common etiology followed by industrial pressure blast [n = 20 (22%)], industrial gas explosion [n = 16 (18%)], military training-related explosion [n = 15 (17%)], home explosive device [n = 8 (9%)], and fireworks explosion [n = 1 (1%)]. Maxillofacial injuries were the most common injury (n = 78) followed by upper extremity orthopedic (n = 29), head injury (n = 32), abdominal (n = 30), lower extremity orthopedic (n = 29), and thoracic (n = 19). The majority of patients with head injury [28 of 32 (88%)] presented with a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 15. CT scans on admission were initially positive for brain injury in 14 of 28 patients (50%). Seven patients (25%) who did not have a CT scan on admission had a CT performed later in their hospital course as a result of mental status change and were positive for traumatic brain injury (TBI). Three patients (11%) had a negative admission CT with a subsequently positive CT for TBI over the next 48 hours. The remaining four patients (14%) were diagnosed with skull fractures. All patients (n = 4) with an admission Glasgow Coma Scale score of less than 8 died from diffuse axonal injury. Blast injury is a complicated disease process, which may evolve over time, particularly with TBI. The missed injury rate for TBI in patients with a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 15 was 36 per cent. More studies are needed in the area of blast injury to better understand this disease process.


Author(s):  
Marius Marc-Daniel Mader ◽  
Rolf Lefering ◽  
Manfred Westphal ◽  
Marc Maegele ◽  
Patrick Czorlich

Abstract Purpose Based on the hypothesis that systemic inflammation contributes to secondary injury after initial traumatic brain injury (TBI), this study aims to describe the effect of splenectomy on mortality in trauma patients with TBI and splenic injury. Methods A retrospective cohort analysis of patients prospectively registered into the TraumaRegister DGU® (TR-DGU) with TBI (AISHead ≥ 3) combined with injury to the spleen (AISSpleen ≥ 1) was conducted. Multivariable logistic regression modeling was performed to adjust for confounding factors and to assess the independent effect of splenectomy on in-hospital mortality. Results The cohort consisted of 1114 patients out of which 328 (29.4%) had undergone early splenectomy. Patients with splenectomy demonstrated a higher Injury Severity Score (median: 34 vs. 44, p < 0.001) and lower Glasgow Coma Scale (median: 9 vs. 7, p = 0.014) upon admission. Splenectomized patients were more frequently hypotensive upon admission (19.8% vs. 38.0%, p < 0.001) and in need for blood transfusion (30.3% vs. 61.0%, p < 0.001). The mortality was 20.7% in the splenectomy group and 10.3% in the remaining cohort. After adjustment for confounding factors, early splenectomy was not found to exert a significant effect on in-hospital mortality (OR 1.29 (0.67–2.50), p = 0.45). Conclusion Trauma patients with TBI and spleen injury undergoing splenectomy demonstrate a more severe injury pattern, more compromised hemodynamic status and higher in-hospital mortality than patients without splenectomy. Adjustment for confounding factors reveals that the splenectomy procedure itself is not independently associated with survival.


2014 ◽  
Vol 121 (5) ◽  
pp. 1232-1238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua W. Gatson ◽  
Jennifer Barillas ◽  
Linda S. Hynan ◽  
Ramon Diaz-Arrastia ◽  
Steven E. Wolf ◽  
...  

Object In previous studies of traumatic brain injury (TBI), neural biomarkers of injury correlate with injury severity and predict neurological outcome. The object of this paper was to characterize neurofilament-H (NFL-H) as a predictor of injury severity in patients who have suffered mild TBI (mTBI). Thus, the authors hypothesized that phosphorylated NFL-H (pNFL-H) levels are higher in mTBI patients than in healthy controls and identify which subjects experienced a more severe injury such as skull fractures, intracranial hemorrhaging, and/or contusions as detected by CT scans. Methods In this prospective clinical study, blood (8 ml) was collected from subjects (n = 34) suffering from mTBI (as defined by the American Congress of Rehabilitation and Glasgow Coma Scale scores between 13 and 15) at Parkland Hospital, Dallas, Texas, on Days 1 and 3 after injury). Additional clinical findings from the CT scans were also used to categorize the TBI patients into those with and those without clinical findings on the scans (CT+ and CTgroups, respectively). The serum levels of pNFL-H were measured using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results Compared with healthy controls, the mTBI patients exhibited a significant increase in the serum levels of pNFL-H on Days 1 (p = 0.00001) and 3 (p = 0.0001) after TBI. An inverse correlation was observed between pNFL-H serum levels and Glasgow Coma Scale scores, which was significant. Additionally, using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis to compare the mTBI cases with controls to determine sensitivity and specificity, an area under the curve of 100% was achieved for both (p = 0.0001 for both). pNFL-H serum levels were only significantly higher on Day 1 in mTBI patients in the CT+ group (p < 0.008) compared with the CT− group. The area under the curve (82.5%) for the CT+ group versus the CT− group was significant (p = 0.021) with a sensitivity of 87.5% and a specificity of 70%, using a cutoff of 1071 pg/ml of pNFL-H in serum. Conclusions This study describes the serum profile of pNFL-H in patients suffering from mTBI with and without CT findings on Days 1 and 3 after injury. These results suggest that detection of pNFL-H may be useful in determining which individuals require CT imaging to assess the severity of their injury.


Blood ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 124 (21) ◽  
pp. 2891-2891 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhavya S. Doshi ◽  
Shannon L. Meeks ◽  
Jeanne E Hendrickson ◽  
Andrew Reisner ◽  
Traci Leong ◽  
...  

Abstract Trauma is the leading cause of death in children ages 1 to 21 years of age. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) poses a high risk of both morbidity and mortality within the subset of pediatric trauma patients. Numerous adult studies have shown that coagulopathy is commonly observed in patients who have sustained trauma and that the incidence is higher when there is TBI. Previously, it was thought that coagulopathy related to trauma was dilutional (i.e. due to replacement of red cells and platelets without plasma) but more recent studies show that the coagulopathy in trauma is early and likely independent of transfusion therapy. Additionally, abnormal coagulation studies (PT, PTT, INR, platelet count, fibrinogen, and D-dimer) following TBI are associated with increased morbidity and mortality in adults. Although coagulopathy after traumatic brain injury in adults is well documented, the pediatric literature is fairly sparse. A recent study by Hendrickson et al in 2008 demonstrated that coagulopathy is both underestimated and under-treated in pediatric trauma patients who required blood product replacements. Here we present the results of a retrospective pilot study designed to assess coagulopathy in the pediatric TBI population. We analyzed all children admitted to our facility with TBI from January 2012 to December 2013. Patients were excluded if they had underlying diseases of the hemostatic system. All patients had baseline characteristics measured including: age, sex, mechanism of injury, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), injury severity score (ISS), initial complete blood count, DIC profile, hematological treatments including transfusions, ICU and hospital length of stay, ventilator days and survival status. Coagulation studies were defined as "abnormal" when they fell outside the accepted reference range of the pediatric hospital laboratory (PT 12.6-15.9, PTT 23.6-42.1 seconds, fibrinogen < 180 mg/dL units, platelets < 185 103/mL and hemoglobin < 11.5 g/dL). Survival was measured as survival at 30 days from admission or last known status at hospital discharge. One hundred and twenty patients met the inclusion criteria of the study and all were included in outcome analysis. Twenty-three of the 120 patients died (19.2%). Logistic regression analysis was used to compare survivors and non-survivors and baseline demographic data showed no difference in age or weight between the two groups with p-values of 0.1635 and 0.1624, respectively. Non-survivors had a higher ISS (30.26 vs 20.92, p-value 0.0004) and lower GCS (3 vs 5.8, p-value 0.0002) compared to survivors. Univariate analysis of coagulation studies to mortality showed statistically significant odds-ratios for ISS (OR 1.09, 95% CI 1.04-1.15), PT (OR 5.91, 95% CI 1.86-18.73), PTT (OR 6.48, 95% CI 2.04-20.52) and platelets (OR 5.63, 95% CI 1.74 – 18.21). Abnormal fibrinogen levels were not predictive of mortality (OR 2.56, 95% CI 0.96-6.79). These results are summarized in Table 1. Our results demonstrate that, consistent with adult studies, abnormal coagulation studies are also associated with increased mortality in pediatric patients. Higher injury severity scores and lower GCS scores are also predictive of mortality. Taken together, these results suggest that possible early correction of coagulopathy in severe pediatric TBI patients could improve outcomes for these patients. Table 1. OR 95% CI p-value ISS 1.09 1.04—1.15 .0009 PT > 15.9 sec 5.91 1.86—18.73 0.0026 PTT > 42.1 sec 6.48 2.04—20.52 0.0015 Fibrinogen < 180 mg/dL 2.56 0.96—6.79 0.0597 Platelets < 185 x 103/mL 5.63 1.74—18.21 0.0040 Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hasan M. Al-Dorzi ◽  
Waleed Al-Humaid ◽  
Hani M. Tamim ◽  
Samir Haddad ◽  
Ahmad Aljabbary ◽  
...  

Rationale. By reducing cerebral oxygen delivery, anemia may aggravate traumatic brain injury (TBI) secondary insult. This study evaluated the impact of anemia and blood transfusion on TBI outcomes.Methods. This was a retrospective cohort study of adult patients with isolated TBI at a tertiary-care intensive care unit from 1/1/2000 to 31/12/2011. Daily hemoglobin level and packed red blood cell (PRBC) transfusion were recorded. Patients with hemoglobin < 10 g/dL during ICU stay (anemic group) were compared with other patients.Results. Anemia was present on admission in two (2%) patients and developed in 48% during the first week with hemoglobin < 7 g/dL occurring in 3.0%. Anemic patients had higher admission Injury Severity Score and underwent more craniotomy (50% versus 13%,p<0.001). Forty percent of them received PRBC transfusion (2.8 ± 1.5 units per patient, median pretransfusion hemoglobin = 8.8 g/dL). Higher hospital mortality was associated with anemia (25% versus 6% for nonanemic patients,p=0.01) and PRBC transfusion (38% versus 9% for nontransfused patients,p=0.003). On multivariate analysis, only PRBC transfusion independently predicted hospital mortality (odds ratio: 6.8; 95% confidence interval: 1.1–42.3).Conclusions. Anemia occurred frequently after isolated TBI, but only PRBC transfusion independently predicted mortality.


2007 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne L. Barker-Collo

AbstractTraumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and morbidity in children and can result in cognitive, behavioural, social and emotional difficulties that may impact quality of life. This study examined the impact of mild, moderate, and severe childhood TBI, when compared to severe orthopaedic injury, on behaviour as measured by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) in a sample of 74 children with TBI and 13 with orthopaedic injury aged 4 to 13 years at the time of injury. Correlational analyses revealed that within the TBI sample increased anxiety/depression and somatisation were related to increased age at the time of injury and shorter inpatient hospital stay. Increased age was also related to increased parental reports of attention problems; while increased hospital stay was related to increased withdrawal and thought problems. Symptomatology was within normal limits for all groups, approaching the borderline clinical range in the moderate TBI group for somatic symptoms and in the severe TBI group for thought and attention problems. Those with severe TBI had more thought and attention problems, and to a lesser extent social problems, than those with mild or moderate TBI; while those with moderate TBI had the highest levels of somatic and anxious–depressed symptoms. The only scale where performance seemed to increase in relation to injury severity was the attention problems scale. It is suggested that the findings for those with moderate TBI reflect increased awareness of one's own vulnerability/mortality, with the implication that issues such as grief, loss, and mortality may need to be addressed therapeutically.


Author(s):  
S Walling ◽  
N Kureshi ◽  
DB Clarke ◽  
M Erdogan ◽  
RS Green

Background: Intoxicated patients injured in off road vehicle (ORV) crashes have higher rates of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and intensive care unit (ICU) admission, as well as prolonged ICU length of stay. This study evaluated the impact of alcohol intoxication on mortality among major TBI patients injured in off-road vehicle crashes. Methods: A retrospective analysis (2002-2014) of off-road vehicle injuries in Nova Scotia resulting in major TBI was performed. ORVs included ATVs, snowmobiles, and dirt bikes. A logistic regression model was constructed to test for in-hospital mortality and adjusted for age, Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) Head, Injury Severity Score, and blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Results: There were 176 drivers and passengers of off-road vehicles. Overall mortality was 28%. BAC testing was performed in 61% patients; 85% of pre-hospital deaths were BAC positive (mean BAC=31 ± 17.39 mmol/L) and 70% in-hospital deaths were BAC positive (mean BAC=26 ± 23.12 mmol/L). After adjusting for confounders, high injury severity and intoxication increased the likelihood of in-hospital mortality. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that alcohol intoxication is a significant risk factor for mortality among off-road vehicle collisions; for every mmol/L change in BAC, there was a 10% increase in the chance of in-hospital mortality.


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