Trauma-Induced Coagulopathy

Abstract Trauma is the leading cause of death among people under the age of 44. Hemorrhage is a major contributor to deaths related to trauma in the first 48 h. Accordingly, the management of these patients is a timesensitive and critical affair that anesthesiologists responsible for surgical resuscitation will face. Coagulopathy associated with trauma exists in one-third of all severely injured patients upon presentation to the hospital. Trauma patients presenting with coagulopathy have significantly higher mortality. This trauma-induced coagulopathy (TIC) must be managed adroitly in the resuscitation of these patients. Recent advancements in our understanding of TIC have led to new protocols and therapy guidelines. Anesthesiologists must be aware of these to effectively manage this form of shock. TIC driven by a combination of endogenous biological processes, as well as iatrogenic causes, can ultimately lead to the lethal triad of hypothermia, acidemia, and coagulopathy. Providers should understand how to promptly diagnose TIC and be aware of the early indicators of massive transfusion. The use of common laboratory studies and patient vital signs serve as our current guide, but the importance of each is still under debate. Thromboelastography is a tool used often in the diagnosis of TIC and can be used to guide blood product transfusion. Certain pharmaceutical strategies and nontransfusion strategies also exist, which aid in the management of hemorrhagic shock. Damage control surgery, rewarming, tranexamic acid, and 1:1:1 transfusion protocols are promising methods used to treat the critically wounded. Though protocols have been developed, controversies still exist on the optimal resuscitation strategy

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Reappraising the concept of massive transfusion in trauma.

RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are.INTRODUCTION: The massive-transfusion concept was introduced to recognize the dilutional complications resulting from large volumes of packed red blood cells (PRBCs). Definitions of massive transfusion vary and lack supporting clinical evidence. Damage-control resuscitation regimens of modern trauma care are targeted to the early correction of acute traumatic coagulopathy. The aim of this study was to identify a clinically relevant definition of trauma massive transfusion based on clinical outcomes. We also examined whether the concept was useful in that early prediction of massive transfusion requirements could allow early activation of blood bank protocols. METHODS: Datasets on trauma admissions over a 1 or 2-year period were obtained from the trauma registries of five large trauma research networks. A fractional polynomial was used to model the transfusion-associated probability of death. A logistic regression model for the prediction of massive transfusion, defined as 10 or more units of red cell transfusions, was developed. RESULTS: In total, 5,693 patient records were available for analysis. Mortality increased as transfusion requirements increased, but the model indicated no threshold effect. Mortality was 9% in patients who received none to five PRBC units, 22% in patients receiving six to nine PRBC units, and 42% in patients receiving 10 or more units. A logistic model for prediction of massive transfusion was developed and validated at multiple sites but achieved only moderate performance. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.81, with specificity of only 50% at a sensitivity of 90% for the prediction of 10 or more PRBC units. Performance varied widely at different trauma centers, with specificity varying from 48% to 91%. CONCLUSIONS: No threshold for definition exists at which a massive transfusion specifically results in worse outcomes. Even with a large sample size across multiple trauma datasets, it was not possible to develop a transportable and clinically useful prediction model based on available admission parameters. Massive transfusion as a concept in trauma has limited utility, and emphasis should be placed on identifying patients with massive hemorrhage and acute traumatic coagulopathy.Published versio

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An Increasing Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio Trajectory Predicts Organ Failure in Critically-Ill Male Trauma Patients. An Exploratory Study

Background: Although the association of neutrophil proportions with mortality in trauma patients has recently been shown, there is a paucity of research on the association with other outcomes. We sought to investigate the association of neutrophil proportions with organ failure in critically-ill trauma patients. Methods: We reviewed a randomly-selected group of trauma patients admitted to our level-1 trauma intensive care unit between July 2007 and December 2016. Data collected included demographics, injury mechanism and severity (ISS), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) at admission and at 24 and 48 hours and organ failure data. NLR patterns during the first 48 hours were divided into two trajectories identified by applying factor and cluster analysis to longitudinal measures. Logistic regression was performed for the association between NLR trajectories and any organ failure; negative binomial regression was used to model the number of organ failures and stage of kidney failure measured by KDIGO classification. Results: 207 patients had NLR data at all three time points. The average age was 44.9 years with mean ISS of 20.6. Patients were 72% male and 23% had penetrating trauma. The 74 patients (36%) with Trajectory 1 had a mean NLR at admission of 3.6, which increased to 14.7 at 48 hours. The 133 (64%) patients in Trajectory 2 had a mean NLR at admission of 8.5 which decreased to 6.6 at 48 hours. Mean NLR was different between the two groups at all three time points (all p < 0.01). There was no significant difference in ISS, age or gender between the two trajectory groups. Models adjusted for age, gender and ISS showed that relative to those with trajectory 2, patients with the trajectory 1 were more likely to have organ failure OR 2.96 (1.42–6.18; p < 0.01), higher number of organ failures IRR 1.50 (1.13–2.00, p < 0.01), and degree of AKI IRR 2.06 (1.04–4.06, p = 0.04). In all cases, the estimated associations were higher among men vs. women, and all were significant among men, but not women. Conclusions: Trauma patients with an increasing NLR trajectory over the first 48 hours had increased risk, number and severity of organ failures. Further research should focus on the mechanisms behind this difference in outcome