Publications by authors named "Alden Dahan"
Consistent evidence supporting the use of cannabinoids for management of acute pain is lacking. A small number of observational studies suggest cannabinoid use is associated with reduced opioid use but pain scores remain unchanged. The majority of randomized trials involving a variety of cannabinoid compounds have shown no benefit for acute pain.
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- The study examines the impact of illicit substance use during pregnancy, noting a 4-fold increase over two decades and its negative effects on mothers and fetuses.
- A multicenter retrospective analysis from 2016 to 2021 included 852 pregnant trauma patients (PTPs), with 9.8% testing positive for substances, primarily THC and methamphetamine.
- Findings showed that PTPs with positive urine toxicology had higher rates of blunt head injuries, extremity injuries, domestic violence incidents, and uterine contractions, but similar maternal complication rates compared to those who tested negative.
Introduction: Hospital systems were strained during the COVID-19 pandemic, and although previous studies have shown that surgical outcomes in healthy hip fracture patients were unaffected in the initial months of the pandemic, subsequent data are limited. This study examined the evolution of hip fracture care throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: A retrospective review (level III evidence) was done of surgically treated adult hip fractures at a Level 1 academic trauma center from January 2019 to September 2022, stratified into three groups: pre, early, and late pandemic.
Introduction: Hip fractures are life-changing injuries with associated one-year mortality up to 30%. Five locations in the world have been termed "blue zones," where the longevity of the population is markedly higher than that of surrounding areas and there are 10 times more centenarians. The United States has one blue zone (Loma Linda, California), which is believed to be because of the lifestyle of the Seventh-day Adventist population living there.
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- Almost 10% of pregnant women experience serious injuries, but how serious injuries affect them and their babies isn’t well understood.
- A study looked at 950 pregnant women with injuries and found that about 3.4% had severe injuries, which led to more complications and higher risks for both the mother and baby.
- Severely injured women had more surgeries and a higher chance of losing their baby, so doctors need to be very careful when taking care of them.
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- Doctors often use CT scans to check for injuries after car accidents, but for pregnant women, these scans can be risky for the baby.
- A study looked at how often pregnant women involved in car crashes got CT scans at 12 different hospitals from 2016 to 2021.
- The results showed a big difference in the number of scans given at each hospital, suggesting there should be clearer rules to keep both moms and babies safe while still finding any injuries.
Predictors of fetal delivery in pregnant trauma patients: A multicenter study.
J Trauma Acute Care Surg
January 2024
Background: Pregnant trauma patients (PTPs) undergo observation and fetal monitoring following trauma due to possible fetal delivery (FD) or adverse outcome. There is a paucity of data on PTP outcomes, especially related to risk factors for FD. We aimed to identify predictors of posttraumatic FD in potentially viable pregnancies.
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- The study looked at the effects of pregnancy in older moms (35 years and older) who had trauma and compared them to younger pregnant moms.
- It found that older moms had more injuries to certain organs like the pancreas and stomach, but there was no difference in the chance of delivering the baby after trauma.
- Because of this, they decided that older moms don’t need extra monitoring compared to younger moms after a trauma.
Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted concerns regarding the equity of medical care. We evaluated associations between race/ethnicity, timing of hospital presentation and outcomes of acute appendicitis (AP) and acute cholecystitis (AC) during the initial pandemic peak.
Methods: Analysis was performed on a prospective, observational, multicenter study of adults with AP or AC.
Background: Awake surgery is performed in multiple surgical specialties, but historically, awake surgery in the field of neurosurgery was limited to craniotomies. Over the past two decades, spinal surgeons have pushed for techniques that only require regional anesthesia as they may provide reduced financial burdens on patients, faster recovery times, and better outcomes. The list of awake spine surgeries that have been found in the literature include: laminectomies/discectomies, anterior cervical discectomy and fusions (ACDFs), lumbar fusions, and dorsal column (DC) stimulator placement.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDegenerative disc disease (DDD) is the leading cause of chronic back pain. It is a pathologic condition associated with aging and is believed to result from catabolic excess in the intervertebral discs' (IVD) extracellular matrix. Two new treatment options are intradiscal cellular transplantation and growth factor therapy.
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