Performance of pre-hospital evaluations in ruling out invasive chest stab wounds

Table 7 Management and outcomes for patients with and without signs of invasive wounds

	Pre-hospital signs of IWs (n = 94)	No signs of IWs (n = 59)	p**
No intervention, n (%)	34(64)	40(32)	< 0.01^a
Cardiothoracic surgery or chest tube, n (%)	42(45)	12(20)	< 0.01^a
Chest tube, n (%)	28(30)	6(10)	< 0.01^a
All-type surgery, n (%)	42(45)	16(27)	0.03^a
Cardiothoracic surgery, n (%)	21(22)	8(14)	0.18^a
Sternotomy, n (%)	7(7)	3(5)	0.57^b
Thoracotomy, n (%)	17(18)	5(8)	0.10^a
Cardiothoracic surgery alone, n (%)	16(17)	8(14)	0.57^a
Abdominal procedure^a, n (%)	24(26)	8(14)	0.13^a
Abdominal procedure alone^a, n (%)	17(18)	8(14)	0.46^a
Abdominal and cardiothoracic surgery, n (%)	3(3)	0	0.07^b
Life-saving surgery, n (%)	30(32)	10(17)	0.04^a
Surgery within 2 h of admission, n (%)	38(40)	10(17)	0.02^a
Intubation for all causes, n (%)	48(51)	23(39)	0.20^a
Intubation after arrival at hospital, n (%)	40(43	23(39)	0.66^a
Time to surgery** (from admission), med [IQR]	1.5[1–2]	2[1.9–4.3]	0.01^c
Lactate blood level: peak (mmol/L), med [IQR]	2.3[1–3]	2[1.5–3]	0.53^c
LOS in PACU, med [IQR]	2[1–2]	1[1–2]	0.50^c
Discharge from PACU to home, n (%)	20(23)	23(40)	0.04^a
Hospital LOS, med [IQR]	5[3–9]	3[2–6]	< 0.01^c
Transfusion, n (%)	17(18)	2(3)	0.02^a
Haemoglobin level: minimum (g/L), med [IQR]	120[105–130]	128[115–138]	0.02^c
Death, n (%)	6(6)	0	0.12^b

Definitions: LOS Length of Stay, PACU Perioperative Acute Care Unit, IQR Interquartile Range 25–75%
^a: Laparoscopy or laparotomy, including exploratory surgery
**: p-value for comparison between patients with signs of IWs and others
Statistical tests: ^b = chi-squared test; ^c = Fisher’s exact test; ^d = Mann-Witney U test

ISSN: 1757-7241