Thomas Sullivan

Traumatic brain injury in the elderly: Increased mortality and worse functional outcome at discharge despite lower injury severity

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to compare data obtained from a statewide data set for elderly patients (age > 64 years) that presented with traumatic brain injury with data from nonelderly patients (age > 15 and < 65 years) with similar injuries. METHODS The New York State Trauma Registry from January 1994 through December 1995, from trauma centers and community hospitals excluding New York City (45,982 patients), was examined. Head-injured patients were identified by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision diagnosis codes. A relative head injury severity scale (RHISS) was constructed on the basis of groups of these codes (range, 0 = none to 3 = severe). Comparisons were made with nonelderly patients for mortality, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score at admission and discharge, Injury Severity Score, New Injury Severity Score, and RHISS. Outcome was assessed by a Functional Independence Measure score in three major domains: expression, locomotion, and feeding. Data were analyzed by the chi2 test and Mann-Whitney U test, with p < 0.05 considered significant. RESULTS There were 11,772 patients with International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision diagnosis of head injury, of which 3,244 (27%) were elderly. There were more male subjects in the nonelderly population (78% male subjects) compared with the elderly population (50% men). Mortality was 24.0% in the elderly population compared with 12.8% in the nonelderly population (risk ratio, 2.2; 95% confidence interval, 1.99-2.43). The elderly nonsurvivors were statistically older, and mortality rate increased with age. Stratified by GCS score, there was a higher percentage of nonsurvivors in the elderly population, even in the group with only moderately depressed GCS score (GCS score of 13-15; risk ratio, 7.8; 95% confidence interval, 6.1-9.9 for elderly vs. nonelderly). Functional outcome in all three domains was significantly worse in the elderly survivors compared with the nonelderly survivors. CONCLUSION Elderly traumatic brain injury patients have a worse mortality and functional outcome than nonelderly patients who present with head injury even though their head injury and overall injuries are seemingly less severe.

Intubation of Pediatric Trauma Patients in the Field: Predictor of Negative Outcome Despite Risk Stratification

BACKGROUND Recently, evidence has shown that intubation in the field may not improve or may even adversely affect outcomes. Our objective was to analyze outcomes in pediatric intubated trauma patients using a large national pediatric trauma registry. METHODS The patient population was derived from the last phase of the National Pediatric Trauma Registry, comprising admissions from 1994 through 2002. Intubated patients were identified, as was their place of intubation: in the field, at a hospital that was not a trauma center, and at a trauma center. Risk stratification was performed for mortality using logistic regression models and variables available at presentation to the emergency room. Odds ratio and variable significance were calculated from the logistic regression model. The percentage of patients discharged to home and an abnormal Functional Independence Measure at hospital discharge examined functional outcome of survivors. RESULTS There were a total of 50,199 patients, 5460 (11.6%) of whom were intubated (1,930 in the field, 1,654 in the hospital, and 1,876 in a trauma center). Unadjusted mortality rates for intubated patients were as follows: field, 38.5%; hospital, 16.7%; and trauma center, 13.2% (all different, p < 0.05). The developed logistic regression model had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.98. Compared with nonintubated patients, the odds ratio for field intubation, for non-trauma center, and for trauma center intubation was 14.4, 5.8, and 4.8, respectively (significantly different field vs. either hospital). The actual (observed) death rate was significantly higher than predicted in those intubated in the field. Stratification of injury by New Injury Severity Score or degree of head injury showed that this difference extended from mild to severe (e.g., odds ratio for New Injury Severity Score < 15 field vs. trauma center intubation, 12.3; odds ratio for none or moderate head injury, 5.1). Similar results were obtained for functional outcome in the survivors. CONCLUSION Field intubation is an independent strong negative predictor of survival or good functional outcome despite adjustment for severity of injury. Although not causal, the magnitude of these differences should lead to future controlled studies of pediatric trauma field intubations.

Preparation and achievement of American College of Surgeons level I trauma verification raises hospital performance and improves patient outcome.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to assess the impact on patient outcome and hospital performance of preparing for and achieving American College of Surgeons (ACS) Level I trauma verification. METHODS The center was a previously designated state regional trauma center located adjacent to a major metropolitan area. Preparation for ACS verification began in early 1996 and was completed in early 1998. Final verification took place in April 1999. Data were analyzed before (1994) and after (1998) the process. There was a marked increase in administrative support with trauma named one of the hospitals six centers of excellence. Two full-time board-certified trauma/critical care surgeons were added to the current six trauma surgeons. Their major focus was trauma care. Trauma support staff was also increased with case managers, a trauma nurse practitioner, additional trauma registrars, and administrative support staff. Education and continuous quality improvement were markedly expanded starting in 1996. RESULTS There were 1,098 trauma patients admitted in 1994, and 1,658 in 1998. Overall mortality decreased (1994, 7.38%; 1998, 5.37%; p < 0.05). There was a marked decrease in mortality for severely injured (Injury Severity Score > 30) patients (1994, 44% mortality [38 of 86]; 1998, 27% [22 of 80]; p < 0.04). Average length of stay also decreased (1994, 12.22 days; 1998, 9.87 days; p < 0.02). This yielded an estimated cost savings for 1998 of greater than

Prediction of mortality in pediatric trauma patients: new injury severity score outperforms injury severity score in the severely injured.

4,000 per patient (total saving estimate of

An artificial neural network as a model for prediction of survival in trauma patients: validation for a regional trauma area.

7.4 million). CONCLUSION Trauma system improvement as related to achieving ACS Level I verification appeared to have a positive impact on survival and patient care. There were cost savings realized that helped alleviate the added expense of this system improvement. The process of achieving ACS Level I verification is worthwhile and can be cost effective.

HEMODYNAMIC MONITORING IN THE ELDERLY UNDERGOING ELECTIVE COLON RESECTION FOR CANCER

BACKGROUND The Injury Severity Score (ISS) is a widely accepted method of measuring severity of traumatic injury. A modification has been proposed--the New Injury Severity Score (NISS). This has been shown to predict mortality better in adult trauma patients, but it had no predictive benefit in pediatric patients. The aim of this study was to determine whether the NISS outperforms the ISS in a large pediatric trauma population. METHODS Admissions in the National Pediatric Trauma Registry between April 1996 and September 1999 were included. The ISS and NISS were calculated for each patient. The study endpoints were mortality at hospital discharge, functional outcome in three domains (expression, locomotion, and feeding), and discharge disposition for the survivors. Predictive ability of each score was assessed by area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. RESULTS The NISS and ISS performed equally well at predicting mortality in patients with lower injury severity (ISS < 25), but the NISS was significantly better at predicting mortality in the more severely injured patients. Both scores performed equally well at predicting expression and feeding ability. The NISS was superior to the ISS in predicting locomotion ability at discharge. Thirty-seven percent of patients had an NISS that was higher than their ISS. These patients had a significantly higher mortality and suffered worse functional outcomes. CONCLUSION The NISS performs as well as the ISS in pediatric patients with lower injury severity and outperforms the ISS in those with higher injury severity.

Hemodynamic and pulmonary changes after drainage of significant pleural effusions in critically ill, mechanically ventilated surgical patients.

BACKGROUND To develop and validate an artificial neural network (ANN) for predicting survival of trauma patients based on standard prehospital variables, emergency room admission variables, and Injury Severity Score (ISS) using data derived from a regional area trauma system, and to compare this model with known trauma scoring systems. PATIENT POPULATION The study was composed of 10,609 patients admitted to 24 hospitals comprising a seven-county suburban/rural trauma region adjacent to a major metropolitan area. The data was generated as part of the New York State trauma registry. Study period was from January 1993 through December 1996 (1993-1994: 5,168 patients; 1995: 2,768 patients; 1996: 2,673 patients). METHODS A standard feed-forward back-propagation neural network was developed using Glasgow Coma Scale, systolic blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature, hematocrit, age, sex, intubation status, ICD-9-CM Injury E-code, and ISS as input variables. The network had a single layer of hidden nodes. Initial network development of the model was performed on the 1993-1994 data. Subsequent models were generated using the 1993, 1994, and 1995 data. The model was tested first on the 1995 and then on the 1996 data. The ANN model was tested against Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS) and ISS using the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) area under the curve [ROC-A(z)], Lemeshow-Hosmer C-statistic, and calibration curves. RESULTS The ANN showed good clustering of the data, with good separation of nonsurvivors and survivors. The ROCA(z) was 0.912 for the ANN, 0.895 for TRISS, and 0.766 for ISS. The ANN exceeded TRISS with respect to calibration (Lemeshow-Hosmer C-statistic: 7.4 for ANN; 17.1 for TRISS). The prediction of survivors was good for both models. The ANN exceeded TRISS in nonsurvivor prediction. CONCLUSION An ANN developed for trauma patients using prehospital, emergency room admission data, and ISS gave good prediction of survival. It was accurate and had excellent calibration. This study expands our previous results developed at a single Level I trauma center and shows that an ANN model for predicting trauma deaths can be applied across hospitals with good results

Development of a model for prediction of survival in pediatric trauma patients: Comparison of artificial neural networks and logistic regression ☆

Controversy surrounds the use of pulmonary artery catheters (PACs). We evaluated the influence of preoperative hemodynamic monitoring and optimization on the outcome in elderly patients undergoing elective resection for colon cancer. We performed a retrospective analysis of all elderly patients (age > 65 years) who had undergone elective colon resection during 1985 to 1995. Sixty patients had preoperative insertion of PAC; 217 patients were managed without PAC. Charts were reviewed for Goldmans cardiac risk index (CRI), preoperative risk factors, and hospital mortality. On the basis of CRI the patients were divided into two groups (< 10 and > or = 10). There was no significant difference between PAC or no-PAC patients for age, previous myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, renal insufficiency, hemoglobin, and albumin. There were 12 deaths (4.3%). CRI, which was a significant predictor of mortality in the no-PAC group (2.2% mortality for CRI < 10 vs 15.8% for CRI > or = 10; P < 0.001), was insignificant in the PAC group (2.5% mortality for CRI < 10 vs 5% for CRI > or = 10, P = not significant). Although preoperative optimization using PAC was not beneficial in the low-CRI group it resulted in a threefold reduction in mortality (5% vs 15.8%) in the high-CRI group. We conclude that preoperative optimization of cardiovascular function using a PAC is only beneficial in reducing mortality in high-risk (CRI > or = 10) elderly patients undergoing elective colon resection.