Publications by authors named "Mario Alain Herrera"

In patients with abdominal trauma who require laparotomy, up to a quarter or a third will have a vascular injury. The venous structures mainly injured are the vena cava (29%) and the iliac veins (20%), and arterial vessels are the iliac arteries (16%) and the aorta (14%). The initial approach is performed following the ATLS principles.

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Damage control surgery is based on temporal control of the injury, physiologic recovery and posterior deferred definitive management. This strategy began in the 1980s and became a formal concept in 1993. It has proven to be a strategy that reduces mortality in severely injured trauma patients.

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Damage control has well-defined steps. However, there are still controversies regarding whom, when, and how re-interventions should be performed. This article summarizes the Trauma and Emergency Surgery Group (CTE) Cali-Colombia recommendations about the specific situations concerning second interventions of patients undergoing damage control surgery.

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Damage control surgery principles allow delayed management of traumatic lesions and early metabolic resuscitation by performing abbreviated procedures and prompt resuscitation maneuvers in severely injured trauma patients. However, the initial physiological response to trauma and surgery, along with the hemostatic resuscitation efforts, causes important side effects on intracavitary organs such as tissue edema, increased cavity pressure, and hemodynamic collapse. Consequently, different techniques have been developed over the years for a delayed cavity closure.

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Esophageal trauma is a rare but life-threatening event associated with high morbidity and mortality. An inadvertent esophageal perforation can rapidly contaminate the neck, mediastinum, pleural space, or abdominal cavity, resulting in sepsis or septic shock. Higher complications and mortality rates are commonly associated with adjacent organ injuries and/or delays in diagnosis or definitive management.

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Carotid artery trauma carries a high risk of neurological sequelae and death. Surgical management of these injuries has been controversial because it entails deciding between repair or ligation of the vessel, for which there is still no true consensus either way. This article proposes a new management strategy for carotid artery injuries based on the principles of damage control surgery which include endovascular and/or traditional open repair techniques.

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Thoracic vascular trauma is associated with high mortality and is the second most common cause of death in patients with trauma following head injuries. Less than 25% of patients with a thoracic vascular injury arrive alive to the hospital and more than 50% die within the first 24 hours. Thoracic trauma with the involvement of the great vessels is a surgical challenge due to the complex and restricted anatomy of these structures and its association with adjacent organ damage.

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Introduction: COVID-19 infection is generally characterized by the presence of respiratory symptoms. However, a small percentage of these patients also have gastrointestinal symptoms and complications that are associated with high morbidity and mortality.

Presentation Of Case: A 50-year-old male patient with COVID-19 infection was being treated for COVID-19 and pneumonia in the ICU.

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Rectal trauma is uncommon, but it is usually associated with injuries in adjacent pelvic or abdominal organs. Recent studies have changed the paradigm behind military rectal trauma management, showing better morbidity and mortality. However, damage control techniques in rectal trauma remain controversial.

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Hollow viscus injuries represent a significant portion of overall lesions sustained during penetrating trauma. Currently, isolated small or large bowel injuries are commonly managed via primary anastomosis in patients undergoing definitive laparotomy or deferred anastomosis in patients requiring damage control surgery. The traditional surgical dogma of ostomy has proven to be unnecessary and, in many instances, actually increases morbidity.

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The overall incidence of duodenal injuries in severely injured trauma patients is between 0.2 to 0.6% and the overall prevalence in those suffering from abdominal trauma is 3 to 5%.

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Urologic trauma is frequently reported in patients with penetrating trauma. Currently, the computerized tomography and vascular approach through angiography/embolization are the standard approaches for renal trauma. However, the management of renal or urinary tract trauma in a patient with hemodynamic instability and criteria for emergency laparotomy, is a topic of discussion.

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The spleen is one of the most commonly injured solid organs of the abdominal cavity and an early diagnosis can reduce the associated mortality. Over the past couple of decades, management of splenic injuries has evolved to a prefered non-operative approach even in severely injured cases. However, the optimal surgical management of splenic trauma in severely injured patients remains controversial.

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Peripheral vascular injuries are uncommon in civilian trauma but can threaten the patient's life or the viability of the limb. The definitive control of the vascular injury represents a surgical challenge, especially if the patient is hemodynamically unstable. This article proposes the management of peripheral vascular trauma following damage control surgery principles.

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Damage control techniques applied to the management of thoracic injuries have evolved over the last 15 years. Despite the limited number of publications, information is sufficient to scatter some fears and establish management principles. The severity of the anatomical injury justifies the procedure of damage control in only few selected cases.

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Definitive management of hemodynamically stable patients with penetrating cardiac injuries remains controversial between those who propose aggressive invasive care versus those who opt for a less invasive or non-operative approach. This controversy even extends to cases of hemodynamically unstable patients in which damage control surgery is thought to be useful and effective. The aim of this article is to delineate our experience in the surgical management of penetrating cardiac injuries via the creation of a clear and practical algorithm that includes basic principles of damage control surgery.

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Penetrating torso trauma is the second leading cause of death following head injury. Traffic accidents, falls and overall blunt trauma are the most common mechanism of injuries in developed countries; whereas, penetrating trauma which includes gunshot and stabs wounds is more prevalent in developing countries due to ongoing violence and social unrest. Penetrating chest and abdominal trauma have high mortality rates at the scene of the incident when important structures such as the heart, great vessels, or liver are involved.

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Patients with hemodynamic instability have a sustained systolic blood pressure less or equal to 90 mmHg, a heart rate greater or equal to 120 beats per minute and an acute compromise of the ventilation/oxygenation ratio and/or an altered state of consciousness upon admission. These patients have higher mortality rates due to massive hemorrhage, airway injury and/or impaired ventilation. Damage control resuscitation is a systematic approach that aims to limit physiologic deterioration through strategies that address the physiologic debt of trauma.

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Pelvic fractures occur in up to 25% of all severely injured trauma patients and its mortality is markedly high despite advances in resuscitation and modernization of surgical techniques due to its inherent blood loss and associated extra-pelvic injuries. Pelvic ring volume increases significantly from fractures and/or ligament disruptions which precludes its inherent ability to self-tamponade resulting in accumulation of hemorrhage in the retroperitoneal space which inevitably leads to hemodynamic instability and the lethal diamond. Pelvic hemorrhage is mainly venous (80%) from the pre-sacral/pre-peritoneal plexus and the remaining 20% is of arterial origin (branches of the internal iliac artery).

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The liver is the most commonly affected solid organ in cases of abdominal trauma. Management of penetrating liver trauma is a challenge for surgeons but with the introduction of the concept of damage control surgery accompanied by significant technological advancements in radiologic imaging and endovascular techniques, the focus on treatment has changed significantly. The use of immediately accessible computed tomography as an integral tool for trauma evaluations for the precise staging of liver trauma has significantly increased the incidence of conservative non-operative management in hemodynamically stable trauma victims with liver injuries.

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Laryngotracheal trauma is rare but potentially life-threatening as it implies a high risk of compromising airway patency. A consensus on damage control management for laryngotracheal trauma is presented in this article. Tracheal injuries require a primary repair.

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Damage Control Resuscitation (DCR) seeks to combat metabolic decompensation of the severely injured trauma patient by battling on three major fronts: Permissive Hypotension, Hemostatic Resuscitation, and Damage Control Surgery (DCS). The aim of this article is to perform a review of the history of DCR/DCS and to propose a new paradigm that has emerged from the recent advancements in endovascular technology: The Resuscitative Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta (REBOA). Thanks to the advances in technology, a bridge has been created between Pre-hospital Management and the Control of Bleeding described in Stage I of DCS which is the inclusion and placement of a REBOA.

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Background: There is evidence in favor of using the ultrasound as the primary screening tool in looking for an occult cardiac injury. We report on a prospective single-center study to determine the diagnostic accuracy of chest ultrasound for the diagnosis of occult penetrating cardiac wounds in a low-resource hospital from a middle-income country.

Methods: Data were collected prospectively.

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Background: Trauma information systems are needed to improve decision making and to identify potential areas of intervention.

Objective: To describe the first year of experience with a trauma registry in two referral centers in southwest Colombia.

Methods: The study was performed in two referral centers in Cali.

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