Publications by authors named "Holcomb J"

Background: The interactive media-based approach to community consultation and public disclosure (CC/PD), a key step when conducting exception from informed consent (EFIC) clinical trials, is intended to be completed in 4 months. This analysis characterizes the process, from initiation of CC/PD activities to institutional review board approval, to better understand the barriers and how these can be mitigated.

Methods: This is a retrospective post hoc analysis of data collected as part of the CC/PD campaigns conducted for a large trial involving up to 90 trauma centers in the United States.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency (PHE), the federal government deployed policy flexibilities in food and nutrition assistance programs including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to meet the needs those experiencing economic hardship. Emergent literature evaluates the impact of these flexibilities on program outcomes. The objective of this study was to explore the impact of policy flexibilities deployed during the COVID-19 PHE on access, enrollment/retention, benefit utilization, and perceptions of SNAP and WIC.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Abdominal adhesions are networks of fibrotic tissues that form between organs postoperatively. Current prophylactic strategies do not reproducibly prevent adhesive small bowel obstruction across the entire abdomen. Human placental-derived stem cells produce an anti-inflammatory secretome that has been applied to multiple fibrosing diseases.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: In 2022, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended annual social/emotional/behavioral (SEB) screening at preventive pediatric visits. Numerous SEB screeners have considerable empirical support for children of all ages. However, few studies inform the longitudinal use of SEB screeners in pediatrics.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Graduate medical education (GME) lacks a standardized military training program for general surgery residents, and concern exists that they may not be prepared to serve as combat surgeons on training completion. The purpose of this study was to assess military surgery trainee satisfaction with their programs. Our hypothesis was that military residents were not completely confident to care for combat casualties on completion of current GME training.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The evolving landscape of battlefield medicine forces medical planners to prepare for large-scale combat operations (LSCO) against peer adversaries, requiring reassessment of recent medical strategies. Despite lacking medical backing, the term 'golden day' has been used by senior military leaders to link the resuscitative benefits of the 'golden hour' to prolonged medical care through similar nomenclature. Pseudomedical terminology can easily enter the lexicon of commanders as attractive soundbites.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Traumatic fibrinolytic dysfunction is often categorized into 3 phenotypes based on the result of thromboelastography (TEG) lysis at 30 minutes (LY30): fibrinolysis shutdown, physiologic fibrinolysis, and hyperfibrinolysis. However, the molecular pathophysiology of fibrinolytic dysfunction and the association with clinical outcomes have not been fully evaluated.

Objectives: To assess whether posttraumatic fibrinolysis phenotypes identified by TEG correlate with levels of key fibrinolysis-related serum markers and with risk of mortality and hospital complications.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Ukraine's health and trauma system has been detrimentally impacted since the Russian Federation invasion in February 2022. The number and extent of injuries experienced in Ukraine because of trench warfare and high-intensity large-scale combat operations has not been seen in recent conflicts. Understanding attitudes and perceptions around the use of devices and products including MOVES (monitor, oxygen concentrator, ventilator, and suction system) and its use in the large-scale combat operation environment can inform lessons learned for improved prehospital care in Ukraine, as well as in other future conflicts.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Abdominal adhesions represent a chronic postsurgical disease without reliable prophylaxis. Animal modeling has been a cornerstone of novel therapeutic development but has not produced reliable clinical therapies for prevention of adhesive small bowel obstruction. The purpose of this scoping review is to analyze animal models for abdominal adhesion generation by key considerations of external validity (i.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Following systemically administered adeno-associated virus gene therapy, vector particles are widely distributed, raising concerns about horizontal or germline vector transmission. Characterization of biodistribution and kinetics of vector DNA in body fluids can address these concerns and provide insights into vector behavior in accessible samples. We investigated biodistribution and vector shedding profile of valoctocogene roxaparvovec in men with severe hemophilia A enrolled in the phase 3 GENEr8-1 trial.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Extremity tourniquets have proven to be lifesaving in both civilian and military settings and should continue to be used by first responders for trauma patients with life-threatening extremity bleeding. This is especially true in combat scenarios in which both the casualty and the first responder may be confronted by the imminent threat of death from hostile fire as the extremity hemorrhage is being treated. Not every extremity wound, however, needs a tourniquet.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The first Fallen Surgeons Military Educational Symposium was convened in conjunction with the the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) 23 meeting, under the guidance of the AAST Military Liaison Committee. The daylong session included a 1.5-hour segment on military medical ethics in combat and its unique challenges.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study reviews US military fatalities from combat trauma between 2001 and 2021 to identify potential survival-benefitting interventions and improve trauma care systems.
  • Out of 388 fatalities analyzed, 100 were identified as potentially survivable, with the majority occurring prehospital and involving severe injuries such as gunshot wounds.
  • A panel of medical experts recommended 433 interventions, highlighting blood transfusion as the most critical prehospital intervention and thoracotomy as vital in hospital settings for improving survival outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Battlefield lessons learned are forgotten; the current name for this is the Walker Dip. Blood transfusion and the need for a Department of Defense Blood Program are lessons that have cycled through being learned during wartime, forgotten, and then relearned during the next war. The military will always need a blood program to support combat and contingency operations.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Importance: Exception From Informed Consent (EFIC) research requires community consultation (CC) and public disclosure (PD). Traditional methods of conducting CC and PD are slow, expensive, and labor intensive.

Objective: To describe the feasibility and reach of a novel interactive, media-based approach to CC and PD and to identify the similarities and differences between trial sites in website views, survey responses, online community forum attendance, and opt-out requests.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to establish international consensus on optimal Textbook Outcomes for patients undergoing emergency laparotomies, focusing on both trauma and non-trauma cases.
  • A modified Delphi exercise was conducted with 337 participants globally, which involved multiple rounds to refine the outcome criteria based on expert and patient input.
  • The agreed outcomes include short-term goals, such as being discharged without serious complications, and long-term goals, which involve restoring quality of life one year post-surgery; these findings will need clinical validation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Aggregate statistics help compare mortality rates in U.S. combat operations, but individual-level data on factors affecting casualty mortality has been hard to gather historically.* -
  • The DoD Trauma Registry provides valuable individual-level data from conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, allowing for detailed analyses of factors influencing combat casualty outcomes.* -
  • To better understand combat fatalities and improve survival rates, the commentary suggests integrating data from the Trauma Mortality Review with traditional aggregate statistics, focusing on prevention strategies for injuries.*
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study focuses on improving resuscitation methods to minimize inflammation and organ damage after severe trauma-related blood loss.
  • Researchers connected animal study data with real patient data from a trauma study using a mathematical model to analyze inflammation and coagulation responses.
  • The model effectively predicted outcomes and showed that resuscitation with both plasma and red blood cells was more effective than using crystalloid solutions alone, while early plasma use improved survival and reduced injury severity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: The Assessment of Blood Consumption (ABC) score is used to predict massive transfusions (MT). However, its diagnostic performance has not been widely examined, especially when used as an objective tool to enroll patients in multi-center clinical trials. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of the ABC score in enrolling patients in the Pragmatic Randomized Optimal Platelet and Plasma Ratios (PROPPR) trial.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

It has long been the standard for surgical and EM teams to both be present upon patient arrival and work together for the sickest trauma patients, yielding improved outcomes. It is important to dismantle divisive perceptions, confront system constraints, and promote new strategies that optimize the engagement of trauma team members. The focus should be on the patient, whose injury care starts with prevention and extends seamlessly through prehospital, hospital and rehabilitation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF