Clostridium difficile infection in critically injured trauma patients.

Background: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is an increasing problem worldwide. To our knowledge, there are no studies evaluating specifically the incidence of CDI in the critically injured trauma population.

Methods: Five hundred eighty-one consecutive critically injured trauma patients were followed prospectively for development of CDI, diagnosed by toxin assay.

Blast injury in a civilian trauma setting is associated with a delay in diagnosis of traumatic brain injury.

High-pressure waves (blast) account for the majority of combat injuries and are becoming increasingly common in terrorist attacks. To our knowledge, there are no data evaluating the epidemiology of blast injury in a domestic nonterrorist setting. Data were analyzed retrospectively on patients admitted with any type of blast injury over a 10-year period at a busy urban trauma center.

Plasma levels of the beta chemokine regulated upon activation, normal T cell expressed, and secreted (RANTES) correlate with severe brain injury.

Background: The expression of the beta chemokine RANTES (regulated upon activation, normal T cell expressed, and secreted) has previously been shown to be elevated after traumatic brain injury (TBI) in animal models, but it was unknown whether the plasma level of RANTES was predictive of TBI in critically injured trauma patients.

Methods: A prospective study was conducted on 108 critically ill trauma patients. Patients were stratified by radiologic diagnosis of TBI.