Michael D McGonigal MDRegions Hospital

Torso Trauma Update

Objectives

• Discuss new developments in FAST exam of the torso

• Review the diagnosis of abdominal and pelvic vascular injury with imaging techniques

• Examine the link between mortality and number of abdominal operations performed at trauma centers

FAST And Penetrating Trauma

• FAST was originally developed for diagnosis in blunt trauma– Sens: 46-85%– Spec: 52-89%– NPV: 60-98%– Accuracy: 98-90%

FAST And Penetrating Trauma

• Traditionally used in penetrating trauma, just for practice

• The question:– Is FAST able to rule

out peritoneal orcardiac injury frompenetrating trauma?

FAST And Penetrating Trauma

• Studies selected for meta-analysis– 148 studies identified

• Selection criteria– Age > 12– Hemodynamically stable– Had confirmatory test

• Only 8 left for review!

FAST And Penetrating Trauma

• Only four of the 8 papers were useful

• Results– Specificity >94%– PPV > 75– Likelihood ratio >8

FAST And Penetrating Trauma

• A hemodynamically stable patient with penetrating torso trauma and a positive FAST should undergo exploratory laparotomy

FAST And Penetrating Trauma

• A hemodynamically stable patient with penetrating torso trauma and a positive FAST should undergo exploratory laparotomy

• Patients with a negative FAST are stable enough to undergo further diagnostic studies

CT In Abdominal and Pelvic Vascular Injury

• CT offers a non-invasive technique for providing high quality images in torso trauma– New technology = delayed imaging

• Vascular injury presents in two different ways– End organ anomaly– Vascular abnormality

• Calling it a “blush” is nolonger enough!

CT In Abdominal and Pelvic Vascular Injury

• End organ anomaly - hypoenhancement

CT In Abdominal and Pelvic Vascular Injury

• Vascular abnormality– Persistent hyperattenuation

CT In Abdominal and Pelvic Vascular Injury

• Vascular abnormality– Expanding hyperattenu-

ation

CT In Abdominal and Pelvic Vascular Injury

• Vascular abnormality– Expanding hyperattenu-

ation

CT In Abdominal and Pelvic Vascular Injury

• Vascular abnormality– Vessel irregularity

CT In Abdominal and Pelvic Vascular Injury

• Vascular abnormality– Vessel irregularity

CT In Abdominal and Pelvic Vascular Injury

• So what is a contrast blush anyway?– Contrast extravasation

CT In Abdominal and Pelvic Vascular Injury

• So what is a contrast blush anyway?– Contrast extravasation– Pseudoaneurysm

CT In Abdominal and Pelvic Vascular Injury

• So what is a contrast blush anyway?– Contrast extravasation– Pseudoaneurysm• Contrast washes away

CT In Abdominal and Pelvic Vascular Injury

• So what is a contrast blush anyway?– Contrast extravasation– Pseudoaneurysm

• What’s the difference?

CT In Abdominal and Pelvic Vascular Injury

• So what is a contrast blush anyway?– Contrast extravasation– Pseudoaneurysm

• What’s the difference?– Both are bad!

CT In Abdominal and Pelvic Vascular Injury

• So what is a contrast blush anyway?– Contrast extravasation– Pseudoaneurysm

• What’s the difference?– Both are bad!– Pseudoaneurysm

CT In Abdominal and Pelvic Vascular Injury

• So what is a contrast blush anyway?– Contrast extravasation– Pseudoaneurysm

• What’s the difference?– Both are bad!– Pseudoaneurysm– Extravasation

CT In Abdominal and Pelvic Vascular Injury

• Bottom Line

– If you diagnose a pseudoaneurysm, obtain a surgical consult and consider IR soon

– If you see extravasation, order blood first, consult surgery and prepare patient for IR ASAP

Mortality and Operations

• Started with– Development of trauma

centers

Mortality and Operations

• Started with– Development of trauma

centers

• Moved to– Development of trauma

systems

Mortality and Trauma Operations• Started with

– Development of trauma centers

• Moved to– Development of trauma systems

• Found that– Trauma center care decreased mortality

• Don’t know about– How care is delivered at trauma centers

Mortality and Trauma Operations

• Your patient is bleeding to death until proven otherwise

• Trauma centers are good at operative management of bleeding

Mortality and Trauma Operations

• Your patient is bleeding to death until proven otherwise

• Trauma centers are good at operative management of bleeding

• Trauma centers that operate a lot tostop bleeding have lower mortality

Mortality and Trauma Operations

• ACS TQIP project allows calculation of observed to expected mortality rates

1. Calculate O/E mortality rates

2. Calculate procedure rates for specific operations

3. Examine the association betweennumbers 1 and 2

Mortality and Trauma Operations

• Study population of 135,666 patients obtained from the NTDB– Level I or II centers– No DOA– No minor injuries– Complete data record

Mortality and Trauma Operations

Mortality and Trauma Operations

Mortality and Trauma Operations

• How can this be?– More reliance on nonop management, less

experience with operative control– No good guidelines as to when patients should go

to OR– More severely injured in the first place

Mortality and Trauma Operations

• Implications– Quality problem has been identified

– Now need to identify causes and solutions

– Are similar outcomes associated with other operative procedures???

Video, Slides, Biblio

• www.regionstraumapro.com• regionstrauma

Bibliography

• What is the utility of focused assessment with sonography in trauma (FAST) exam in penetrating torso trauma?– Injury, in press, 2010.– Department of Emergency Medicine, Downstate

Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY.

Bibliography

• CT of blunt abdominal and pelvic vascular injury– Emerg Radiology 17:21-29, 2010– Dept of Radiology, Boston University Medical

Center

Bibliography

• More operations, more deaths? Relationship between operative intervention and risk-adjusted mortality at trauma centers.– J Trauma 69(1):70-77, 2010– Multiple sites