Top

European Journal of Trauma and Emergency Surgery

Published in:

01-04-2012 | Original Article

Overview of polytrauma patients in the first 10 days after the Sichuan earthquake: a report from the No. 903 Military Hospital, Jiangyou

Authors: R. Gao, L. Yang, W. Yuan, T. Li, Q. Fu

Published in: European Journal of Trauma and Emergency Surgery | Issue 2/2012

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the profile of traumas, the severity, and mortality of polytrauma patients in a front-line hospital after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

Methods

Patients who had two or more injuries to physical regions or organ systems, where at least one injury or the combination of injuries carried a certain risk of fatal outcome, with Injury Severity Score (ISS) ≥16, were considered as polytrauma patients and included in this study. Medical records consisting of demographic data, distribution and type of injuries, Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) score of each injury, ISS, surgical procedures, mortality rate, and features of the deaths were collected and analyzed.

Results

A total of 70 earthquake-related polytrauma patients were treated in our hospital during the first 10 days after the earthquake. The mean ISS of these patients was 26.9, and 77.1% of these patients were critically injured (ISS ≥ 25). Among the 224 injuries, the most common injury site was the extremities (30.8%), 81.2% of which were fractures. A total of 152 surgical procedures were performed on these patients, of which orthopedic procedures accounted for 85.5%. During the first 10 days, 21 patients with significantly higher ISS than the survivors died in the hospital.

Conclusions

The mortality rate of the polytrauma patients in this rescue operation was high. The ISS was a feasible tool to estimate the severity of polytrauma patients. Specialists in orthopedics, critical care, and respiratory disorders were in great demand during the management of these patients in such conditions.

Probst C, Pape HC, Hildebrand F, Regel G, Mahlke L, Giannoudis P, Krettek C, Grotz MR. 30 years of polytrauma care: an analysis of the change in strategies and results of 4849 cases treated at a single institution. Injury. 2009;40(1):77–83.PubMedCrossRef

Butcher N, Balogh ZJ. The definition of polytrauma: the need for international consensus. Injury. 2009;40(Suppl 4):S12–22.PubMedCrossRef

Stürmer KM, Dresing K, Blauth M, Bonnaire F, Braun W, Meenen NM, Siebert H, Suren EG, Wittner B. Recommended guidelines for diagnostics and therapy in trauma surgery. Recommended guidelines for polytrauma. Eur J Trauma. 2001;27(3):137–50.

Lew HL, Otis JD, Tun C, Kerns RD, Clark ME, Cifu DX. Prevalence of chronic pain, posttraumatic stress disorder, and persistent postconcussive symptoms in OIF/OEF veterans: polytrauma clinical triad. J Rehabil Res Dev. 2009;46(6):697–702.PubMedCrossRef

Gennarelli TA, Wodzin E. AIS 2005: a contemporary injury scale. Injury. 2006;37(12):1083–91.PubMedCrossRef

Davenport RA, Tai N, West A, Bouamra O, Aylwin C, Woodford M, McGinley A, Lecky F, Walsh MS, Brohi K. A major trauma centre is a specialty hospital not a hospital of specialties. Br J Surg. 2010;97(1):109–17.PubMedCrossRef

Mahoney LE, Reutershan TP. Catastrophic disasters and the design of disaster medical care systems. Ann Emerg Med. 1987;16(9):1085–91.PubMedCrossRef

Bulut M, Fedakar R, Akkose S, Akgoz S, Ozguc H, Tokyay R. Medical experience of a university hospital in Turkey after the 1999 Marmara earthquake. Emerg Med J. 2005;22(7):494–8.PubMedCrossRef

Zhang L, Li H, Carlton JR, Ursano R. The injury profile after the 2008 earthquakes in China. Injury. 2009;40(1):84–6.PubMedCrossRef

10.

Hu Y, Tang Y, Yuan Y, Xie TP, Zhao YF. Trauma evaluation of patients with chest injury in the 2008 earthquake of Wenchuan, Sechuan, China. World J Surg. 2010;34(4):728–32.PubMedCrossRef

11.

Nie H, Tang SY, Lau WB, Zhang JC, Jiang YW, Lopez BL, Ma XL, Cao Y, Christopher TA. Triage during the week of the Sichuan earthquake: a review of utilized patient triage, care, and disposition procedures. Injury. 2011;42(5):515–20.PubMedCrossRef

12.

Li W, Qian J, Liu X, Zhang Q, Wang L, Chen D, Lin Z. Management of severe crush injury in a front-line tent ICU after 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China: an experience with 32 cases. Crit Care. 2009;13(6):R178.PubMedCrossRef

13.

Chen WK, Cheng YC, Ng KC, Hung JJ, Chuang CM. Were there enough physicians in an emergency department in the affected area after a major earthquake? An analysis of the Taiwan Chi-Chi earthquake in 1999. Ann Emerg Med. 2001;38(5):556–61.PubMedCrossRef

14.

Asehnoune K, Édouard A. Inflammatory response and polytrauma: an update. Réanimation. 2006;15:568–75.CrossRef

15.

Sikand M, Williams K, White C, Moran CG. The financial cost of treating polytrauma: implications for tertiary referral centres in the United Kingdom. Injury. 2005;36(6):733–7.PubMedCrossRef

16.

Pamerneckas A, Macas A, Blazgys A, Pilipavicius G, Toliusis V. The treatment of multiple injuries: prehospital emergency aid. Medicina (Kaunas). 2006;42(5):395–400.

17.

Peek-Asa C, Kraus JF, Bourque LB, Vimalachandra D, Yu J, Abrams J. Fatal and hospitalized injuries resulting from the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Int J Epidemiol. 1998;27(3):459–65.PubMedCrossRef

Title: Overview of polytrauma patients in the first 10 days after the Sichuan earthquake: a report from the No. 903 Military Hospital, Jiangyou
Authors: R. Gao
L. Yang
W. Yuan
T. Li
Q. Fu
Publication date: 01-04-2012
Publisher: Springer-Verlag
Published in: European Journal of Trauma and Emergency Surgery / Issue 2/2012
Print ISSN: 1863-9933
Electronic ISSN: 1863-9941
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00068-012-0182-1

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Overview of polytrauma patients in the first 10 days after the Sichuan earthquake: a report from the No. 903 Military Hospital, Jiangyou

Abstract

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusions

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 2/2012

Injury pattern of suicide bomb attacks in Pakistan

Indications for bullet removal: overview of the literature, and clinical practice guidelines for European trauma surgeons

Emergency thoracotomies in the largest trauma center in Denmark: 10 years’ experience

Results of the femur fractures treated with the new selfdynamisable internal fixator (SIF)

Introduction to the fourth “Focus-on” issue devoted to Disaster and Military Surgery in EJTES

Causes of inpatient death for patients with warfare-related limb trauma and logistic regression analysis of the risk factors