Outcomes of truncal vascular injuries in children.

BACKGROUND: Pediatric truncal vascular injuries occur infrequently and have a reported mortality rate of 30% to 50%. This report examines the demographics, mechanisms of injury, associated trauma, and outcome of patients presenting for the past 10 years at a single institution with truncal vascular injuries. METHODS: A retrospective review (1997-2006) of a pediatric trauma registry at a single institution was undertaken. RESULTS: Seventy-five truncal vascular injuries occurred in 57 patients (age, 12 +/- 3 years); the injury mechanisms were penetrating in 37%. Concomitant injuries occurred with 76%, 62%, and 43% of abdominal, thoracic, and neck vascular injuries, respectively. Nonvascular complications occurred more frequently in patients with abdominal vascular injuries who were hemodynamically unstable on presentation. All patients with thoracic vascular injuries presenting with hemodynamic instability died. In patients with neck vascular injuries, 1 of 2 patients who were hemodynamically unstable died, compared to 1 of 12 patients who died in those who presented hemodynamically stable. Overall survival was 75%. CONCLUSIONS: Survival and complications of pediatric truncal vascular injury are related to hemodynamic status at the time of presentation. Associated injuries are higher with trauma involving the abdomen

Association of Emergency Department Pediatric Readiness With Mortality to 1 Year Among Injured Children Treated at Trauma Centers

Importance: There is substantial variability among emergency departments (EDs) in their readiness to care for acutely ill and injured children, including US trauma centers. While high ED pediatric readiness is associated with improved in-hospital survival among children treated at trauma centers, the association between high ED readiness and long-term outcomes is unknown. Objective: To evaluate the association between ED pediatric readiness and 1-year survival among injured children presenting to 146 trauma centers. Design, setting, and participants: In this retrospective cohort study, injured children younger than 18 years who were residents of 8 states with admission, transfer to, or injury-related death at one of 146 participating trauma centers were included. Children cared for in and outside their state of residence were included. Subgroups included those with an Injury Severity Score (ISS) of 16 or more; any Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) score of 3 or more; head AIS score of 3 or more; and need for early critical resources. Data were collected from January 2012 to December 2017, with follow-up to December 2018. Data were analyzed from January to July 2021. Exposures: ED pediatric readiness for the initial ED, measured using the weighted Pediatric Readiness Score (wPRS; range, 0-100) from the 2013 National Pediatric Readiness Project assessment. Main outcomes and measures: Time to death within 365 days. Results: Of 88 071 included children, 30 654 (34.8%) were female; 2114 (2.4%) were Asian, 16 730 (10.0%) were Black, and 49 496 (56.2%) were White; and the median (IQR) age was 11 (5-15) years. A total of 1974 (2.2%) died within 1 year of the initial ED visit, including 1768 (2.0%) during hospitalization and 206 (0.2%) following discharge. Subgroups included 12 752 (14.5%) with an ISS of 16 or more, 28 402 (32.2%) with any AIS score of 3 or more, 13 348 (15.2%) with a head AIS of 3 or more, and 9048 (10.3%) requiring early critical resources. Compared with EDs in the lowest wPRS quartile (32-69), children cared for in the highest wPRS quartile (95-100) had lower hazard of death to 1 year (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.70; 95% CI, 0.56-0.88). Supplemental analyses removing early deaths had similar results (aHR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.56-0.996). Findings were consistent across subgroups and multiple sensitivity analyses. Conclusions and relevance: Children treated in high-readiness trauma center EDs after injury had a lower risk of death that persisted to 1 year. High ED readiness is independently associated with long-term survival among injured children

The Multisplit Ventilator System: Performance Testing of Respiratory Support Shared by Multiple Patients

Abstract Ventilator sharing has been proposed as a method of increasing ventilator capacity during instances of critical shortage. We sought to assess the ability of a regulated, shared ventilator system, the multisplit ventilator system, to individualize support to multiple simulated patients using one ventilator. We employed simulated patients of varying size, compliance, minute ventilation requirement, and positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) requirement. Performance tests were performed to assess the ability of the system, versus control, to achieve individualized respiratory goals to clinically disparate patients sharing a single ventilator following ARDSNet guidelines (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome). Resilience tests measured the effects of simulated adverse events occurring to one patient on another patient sharing a single ventilator. The multisplit ventilator system met individual oxygenation and ventilation requirements for multiple simulated patients with a tolerance similar to that of a single ventilator. Abrupt endotracheal tube occlusion or extubation occurring to one patient resulted in modest, clinically tolerable changes in ventilation parameters for the remaining patients. The proof-of-concept ventilator system presented in this paper is a regulated, shared ventilator system capable of individualizing ventilatory support to clinically dissimilar simulated patients. It is resilient to common adverse events and represents a feasible option to ventilate multiple patients during a severe ventilator shortage.</jats:p

The Multisplit Ventilator System: Design and Function of a Regulated, Shared Ventilator System

Abstract The objective of this paper is to describe the design and function of the multisplit ventilator system (MSVS); an airflow apparatus that enables physicians to provide individualized, isolated ventilation to up to four patients using a single ventilator. Method: The study design is laboratory assessment of the ability of the MSVS to decouple the pressures and resulting tidal volumes between patient limbs in response to adverse extubation (disconnection) or endotracheal tube occlusion of one of the patients in the system. We compare the airflow decoupling of the MSVS against an existing unregulated split ventilator system (USVS) design over eight prototypical patient pairs. Simulated patient prototypes of varying size, minute ventilation requirement, and positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) requirement were employed. Result: Respiratory support was developed for varying simulated patient pairs using the MSVS and a USVS. The results demonstrate that patients supported with the MSVS showed significantly smaller changes to tidal volume and PEEP after extubation events, and tidal volume after occlusion events. Conclusion: It was found that the MSVS as a regulated, shared ventilator system effectively buffered simulated patients from clinical changes occurring to another patient connected to the split ventilator. This decoupling ability resulted in significantly smaller changes in delivered support when compared to existing USVS designs, which is an important patient safety consideration if deciding to support multiple patients with a single ventilator.</jats:p