Trends in polytrauma incidence among major trauma admissions.

Purpose: Polytrauma is increasingly recognized as a disease beyond anatomical injuries. Due to population growth, centralization, and slow uptake of preventive measures, major trauma presentations in most trauma systems show a slow but steady increase. The proportional contribution of polytrauma patients to this increase is unknown.

The most critically injured polytrauma patient mortality: should it be a measurement of trauma system performance?

Purpose: The risk of death after traumatic injury in developed trauma systems is at an all-time low. Among 'major trauma' patients (injury severity score, ISS > 15), the risk of dying is less than 10%. This group contains critical polytrauma patients (ISS 50-75), with high risks of death.

Pelvic angioembolization: how urgently needed?

Purpose: Angioembolization (AE) has been questioned as first-line modality for hemorrhage control of pelvic fracture (PF)-associated bleeding due to its potential inconsistent timely availability. We aimed to describe the patterns of AE use with hemostatic resuscitation and hypothesized that time to AE improved during the study period.

Methods: A Level-1 trauma center's prospective PF database was analyzed.

Trauma patients with prehospital Glasgow Coma Scale less than nine: not a homogenous group.

Purpose: Prehospital guidelines stratify and manage patients with Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) less than nine and any sign of head injury as affected by severe traumatic brain injury (STBI). We hypothesized that this group of patients is so inhomogeneous that uniform treatment guidelines cannot be advocated.

Methods: Patients (2005-2012) with prehospital GCS below nine and abbreviated injury scale head and neck above two were identified from trauma registry.