Thom Mayer

The modified injury severity scale in pediatric multiple trauma patients

A Modified Injury Severity Scale (MISS) was devised to classify 110 pediatric patients with multiple trauma. Each of five body areas (neurologic, face and neck, chest, abdomen and pelvic contents, and extremities and pelvic girdle) were ranked by severity according to the carefully-defined categories of the AMA Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS), with minor modifications. The AIS grades of injury are: 1—mild; 2—moderate; 3—severe, not life-threatening; 4—severe, life-threatening, survival probable, and; 5—critical, survival uncertain. The MISS score is defined as the sum of the squares of the three most-severely injured body areas. Final patient outcomes were ranked as: normal; disabled (some limitation not previously present); dependent (for some activity of daily living), and death. Overall mortality was 14.5% with 9% disability and 0.9% dependency. Both mortality and morbidity correlated linearly with increasing MISS score. Of patients with MISS scores >25, 60% died and 16.7% were either disabled or dependent, while no mortalities and 2.5% disabilities were seen with scores

Gastroschisis and omphalocele. An eight-year review.

Until recently confusion has existed concerning the clinical features and surgical treatment of gastroschisis and omphalocele. Since 1971 75 infants with these abdominal wall defects have been treated at our institution. Significant differences (p < 0.001 in all instances) were noted between the two diseases. Gastroschisis occurred twice as often as omphalocele and is increasing in frequency. Prematurity was commonly seen with gastroschisis (65%). While the overall incidence of malformations associated with gastroschisis was low (23%), the vast majority of the additional malformations were jejunoileal or colonic atresias. The mortality rate was 12.7% among gastroschisis patients, with only one death attributable to prematurity. All other deaths were preventable, indicating that even lower mortality rates are feasible. Omphalocele was associated with a 23% incidence of premature birth but associated anomalies were present in 66% of the patients. Major cardiac (52%) and chromosomal defects (40%) predominated. In addition, 17% of omphalocele patients had either Cantrells pentalogy or cloacal/bladder exstrophy. The mortality rate in omphalocele (34%) was nearly three times that of gastroschisis. Nine of ten patients who died from omphalocele died either from major cardiac or chromosomal disease. However, in patients without cardiac or chromosomal defects the survival rate was 94%.

Special report. Air transport of pediatric emergency cases.

Prompt delivery of appropriate care is of great importance in the management of medical emergencies. The necessity for adequate, efficient resuscitation and rapid transportation of patients has bee...

Experimental subglottic stenosis: Histopathologic and bronchoscopic comparison of electrosurgical, cryosurgical, and laser resection*

Controversy continues over the optimal method of resecting subglottic stenosis. Electrosurgery, cryosurgery and laser resection have all had some clinical success. We sought to compare these treatment methods in experimentally-created subglottic stenosis. Subglottic strictures were created transbronchoscopically in newborn lambs by electrocoagulating a rim of mucosa. Four weeks later, all had 20 to 90% occlusion documented bronchoscopically. Control animals were found to have dense submucosal fibrosis in the cricoid area. Remaining experimental animals were treated with: (1) electrosurgical resection; (2) cryosurgical treatment; (3) Neodymium-yag (Nd:Yag) laser at 20 watts; (4) Nd:Yag laser with 40 watts; or (5) carbon dioxide laser at 10 watts. Animals from each group were sacrificed at 5 and 30 days postresection and the tracheas were examined grossly and microscopically. Animals sacrificed at 30 days postresection were bronchoscoped at weekly intervals. Cryosurgical and electrosurgical resection resulted in 1-3 mm of thermal damage adjacent to the margin of resection at 5 days post-treatment. Mucosal ingrowth and healing were rapid and there was no development of stenosis or damage to underlying structures. Use of the Nd:Yag laser resulted in 10-20 mm of surrounding damage in animals sacrificed at 5 days. At 30 days posttreatment, there was mucosal healing but extreme underlying damage and redevelopment of stenosis at the level of treatment. The carbon dioxide laser-treated animals showed thermal damage present up to 2 mm in depth from resected areas at 5 days post-treatment. Mucosal regeneration proceeded rapidly. This study indicates that electrosurgical and cryosurgical resection for experimental subglottic stenosis create minimal thermal damage and are associated with comparably acceptable rates of mucosal ingrowth and healing. The carbon dioxide laser created comparable to slightly decreased thermal damage but suffers at present from lack of optimal visualization of the subglottic lesion.

Screening for Inhalational Anthrax Due to Bioterrorism: Evaluating Proposed Screening Protocols

Eleven known cases of bioterrorism-related inhalational anthrax (IA) were treated in the United States during 2001. We retrospectively compared 2 methods that have been proposed to screen for IA. The 2 screening protocols for IA were applied to the emergency department charts of patients who presented with possible signs or symptoms of IA at Inova Fairfax Hospital (Falls Church, Virginia) from 20 October 2001 through 3 November 2001. The Mayer criteria would have screened 4 patients (0.4%; 95% CI, 0.1%-0.9%) and generated charges of 1900 dollars. If 29 patients (2.6%; 95% CI, 1.7%-3.7%) with >or=5 symptoms (but without fever and tachycardia) were screened, charges were 13,325 dollars. The Hupert criteria would have screened 273 patients (24%; 95% CI, 22%-27%) and generated charges of 126,025 dollars. In this outbreak of bioterrorism-related IA, applying the Mayer criteria would have identified both patients with IA and would have generated fewer charges than applying the Hupert criteria.