Shock index in patients with traumatic solid organ injury as a predictor of massive blood transfusion protocol activation.

Purpose: We aimed to assess the utility of shock index (SI) to predict the need for massive transfusion protocol (MTP) in patients with solid organ injury (SOI) in a Level 1 Trauma center.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis for patients with SOI between 2011 and 2014. Patients were categorized according to on-admission SI into low (< 0.8) and high SI (≥0.8) group.

Results: A total of 4500 patients were admitted with trauma, of them 572 sustained SOIs (289 patients had SI ≥0.8). In comparison to low SI, patients with high SI were younger, had higher injury severity scores (ISS) and lower Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS); ( < 0.001). The proportion of exploratory laparotomy (EXLap), blood transfusion (BT), MTP activation, sepsis and hospital mortality were significantly higher in patients with high SI. Serum lactate ( = 0.34), hematocrit ( = - 0.34), ABC score ( = 0.62), ISS ( = 0.35), and amount of transfused blood ( = 0.22) were significantly correlated with SI. On multivariable regression analysis using 9 relevant variables (age, sex, ISS, ED GCS, serum lactate, hematocrit, Abdomen AIS and Focused assessment with sonography in trauma (FAST) and SI), SI ≥ 0.8 was an independent predictor of BT (OR 2.80; 95%CI 1.56-4.95) and MTP (OR 2.81;95% CI 1.09-7.21) .

Conclusions: In patients with SOI, SI is a simple bedside predictor for BT and MTP activation. Further prospective studies are needed to support our findings.