Publications by authors named "Samuel P Carmichael"

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.

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Article Synopsis
  • A 49-year-old man was treated at a trauma center after being shot with a bean bag round and tased during an altercation with police, revealing multiple injuries including a lung foreign body and fractures.
  • Imaging showed a bean bag projectile embedded in his lung and indicated other fractures, but he was stable enough to undergo surgery to remove the projectile.
  • The case highlights the dangers of "less lethal" bean bag projectiles used by law enforcement, as they can still cause serious injuries.
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Introduction: High-quality health information handovers are critical to optimal patient care and trainee education. The purposes of this study were to assess the feasibility of implementing an emergency general surgery (EGS) morning handover and to explore its impact upon markers of clinical care.

Methods: This prospective feasibility study was conducted at a single academic tertiary-care medical center following implementation of a novel EGS morning handover process.

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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.

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Whole blood (WB) is associated with improved mortality while lowering blood product utilization. Furthermore, statin medications are associated with favorable outcomes in traumatic brain injury and risk reduction of venous thromboembolism. However, the use of statin medications has not been evaluated in those receiving WB.

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Article Synopsis
  • A study developed a new rat model to investigate abdominal adhesions, a common surgical issue, and tested various treatments including human placental stem cells (hPSC).
  • Forty-four male Sprague-Dawley rats were used; the study involved creating adhesions and applying different treatments, including a control group and various experimental therapies over a 14-day period.
  • Results showed that treatments with hPSC and its secretome significantly reduced the severity of abdominal adhesions compared to the control group, indicating potential for new therapeutic approaches.
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Surgical decision-making is a continuum of judgments that take place during the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative periods. The fundamental, and most challenging, step is determining whether a patient will benefit from an intervention given the dynamic interplay of diagnostic, temporal, environmental, patient-centric, and surgeon-centric factors. The myriad combinations of these considerations generate a wide spectrum of reasonable therapeutic approaches within the standards of care.

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Introduction: Variation in surgical management exists nationally. We hypothesize that geographic variation exists in adhesive small bowel obstruction (aSBO) management.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective analysis of a national commercial insurance claims database (MarketScan) sample (2017-2019) was performed in adults with hospital admission due to aSBO.

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Background: The endothelial glycocalyx layer (EGL) is a complex meshwork of glycosaminoglycans and proteoglycans that protect the vascular endothelium. Cleavage or shedding of EGL-specific biomarkers, such as hyaluronic acid (HA) and syndecan-1 (SDC-1, CD138) in plasma, have been shown to be associated with poor clinical outcomes. However, it is unclear whether levels of circulating EGL biomarkers are representative of the EGL injury within the tissues.

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Alcohol withdrawal syndrome is a common and challenging clinical entity present in trauma and surgical intensive care unit (ICU) patients. The screening tools, assessment strategies, and pharmacological methods for preventing alcohol withdrawal have significantly changed during the past 20 years. This Clinical Consensus Document created by the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma Critical Care Committee reviews the best practices for screening, monitoring, and prophylactic treatment of alcohol withdrawal in the surgical ICU.

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Background: The effects of palliative care (PC) consultation on patient costs and hospitalization metrics in the adult trauma population are unclear.

Study Design: We interrogated our Level I trauma center databases from 1/1/19 to 3/31/21 for patients age ≥18 admitted to the trauma service. Patients undergoing PC consult were matched using propensity scoring to those without PC consultation based on age, admission Glasgow Coma Scale score, Injury Severity Score and Head Abbreviated Injury Scale.

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Management of decompensated cirrhosis (DC) can be challenging for the surgical intensivist. Management of DC is often complicated by ascites, coagulopathy, hepatic encephalopathy, gastrointestinal bleeding, hepatorenal syndrome, and difficulty assessing volume status. This Clinical Consensus Document created by the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma Critical Care Committee reviews practical clinical questions about the critical care management of patients with DC to facilitate best practices by the bedside provider.

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Introduction: Globally, abdominal adhesions constitute a significant burden of morbidity and mortality. They represent the commonest complication of abdominal operations with a lifelong risk of multiple pathologies, including adhesive small bowel obstruction, female infertility, and chronic pain. Adhesions represent a problem of the entire abdomen, forming at the time of injury and progressing through multiple complex pathways.

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A 34-year-old healthy male presented as a trauma activation after sustaining a gunshot wound to his face. CT head imaging was suggestive of a ballistic fragment adjacent to a posterior wall sphenoid sinus fracture with likely a small volume of adjacent blood products. He was ultimately diagnosed with hypopituitarism which included central diabetes insipidus, central hypothyroid, and adrenocorticotropic hormone deficiency secondary to cortisol deficiency.

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Objectives: Improved screening has decreased but not eliminated the need for emergent surgery for colon cancer (CC), many of which are performed by acute care surgery (ACS) surgeons. This retrospective review compares outcomes for CC resections on the ACS service to the surgical oncology and colorectal services (SO/CRS).

Methods: Retrospective review was performed for CC operations between 2014 and 2019.

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Whole blood transfusion (WBT) began in 1667 as a treatment for mental illness, with predictably poor results. Its therapeutic utility and widespread use were initially limited by deficiencies in transfusion science and antisepsis. James Blundell, a British obstetrician, was recognized for the first allotransfusion in 1825.

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Introduction: Blunt cerebrovascular injury (BCVI) is an increasingly detected pattern in trauma with significant morbidity, putting patients at risk for subsequent stoke. Complex screening protocols exist to determine who should undergo CT angiography of the neck (CTAN) to evaluate for BCVI. Once identified, stroke incidence may be reduced with appropriate treatment across grades.

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Bariatric surgery is an important therapy in weight loss. However, adherence to follow-up is critical and may be influenced by the patient-surgeon relationship. To test this hypothesis, bariatric surgical patients were surveyed from March 2013 to March 2015 the National Association for Weight Loss Surgery webpage and social media outlets.

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Blunt cardiac injury (BCI) with free wall rupture carries a high risk of pre-hospital death. Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) has been utilized as a bridge to repair of cardiac lesions in select patients. We present an interesting case of emergency department repair of right atrial rupture with cardiopulmonary bypass.

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Background: Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols are evidence-based quality improvement pathways reported to be associated with improved patient outcomes. The purpose of this study was to compare short-term outcomes for open ventral hernia repair (VHR) before and after implementation of an ERAS protocol.

Methods: After obtaining IRB approval, surgical databases were searched for VHR cases for two years prior and eleven months after protocol implementation for retrospective review.

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Introduction: The purpose of this study is to determine whether discrepant patterns of horse-related trauma exist in mounted vs. unmounted equestrians from a single Level I trauma center to guide awareness of injury prevention.

Methods: Retrospective data were collected from the University of Kentucky Trauma Registry for patients admitted with horse-related injuries between January 2003 and December 2007 (n=284).

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Complications due to retained gallstones after a laparoscopic cholecystectomy occur in 1.7 per 1000 cases. Significant delay to definitive diagnosis and treatment is common due to late presentation and nonspecific symptoms.

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