Articles

Surgical management of abdominal compartment syndrome; indications and techniques

The indications for surgical decompression of abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) are not clearly defined, but undoubtedly some patients benefit from it. In patients without recent abdominal incisions, it can...

Authors: Ari Leppäniemi

Fire fighters as basic life support responders: A study of successful implementation

First responders are recommended as a supplement to the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in order to achieve early defibrillation. Practical and organisational aspects are essential when trying to implement ne...

Authors: Christian Bjerre Høyer and Erika Frischknecht Christensen

Can performance indicators be used for pedagogic purposes in disaster medicine training?

Although disaster simulation trainings were widely used to test hospital disaster plans and train medical staff, the teaching performance of the instructors in disaster medicine training has never been evaluat...

Authors: Masahiro Wakasugi, Heléne Nilsson, Johan Hornwall, Tore Vikström and Anders Rüter

Management of burn injuries – recent developments in resuscitation, infection control and outcomes research

Burn injury and its subsequent multisystem effects are commonly encountered by acute care practitioners. Resuscitation is the major component of initial burn care and must be managed to restore and preserve re...

Authors: David J Dries

Diagnostic peritoneal lavage: a review of indications, technique, and interpretation

Diagnostic peritoneal lavage (DPL) is a highly accurate test for evaluating intraperitoneal hemorrhage or a ruptured hollow viscus, but is performed less frequently today due to the increased use of focused ab...

Authors: Jill S Whitehouse and John A Weigelt

A systematic review of controlled studies: do physicians increase survival with prehospital treatment?

The scientific evidence of a beneficial effect of physicians in prehospital treatment is scarce. The objective of this systematic review of controlled studies was to examine whether physicians, as opposed to p...

Authors: Morten T Bøtker, Skule A Bakke and Erika F Christensen

Undisclosed cocaine use and chest pain in emergency departments of Spain

Illicit cocaine consumption in Spain is one of the highest in Europe. Our objective was to study the incidence of undisclosed cocaine consumption in patients attending in two Spanish Emergency Departments for ...

Authors: Guillermo Burillo-Putze, Beatriz López, Juan María Borreguero León, Miquel Sánchez Sánchez, Martin García González, Alberto Domínguez Rodriguez, Eva Vallbona Afonso, Alejandro Jiménez Sosa and Oscar Mirò

Abdominal Compartment Syndrome: pathophysiology and definitions

"Intra-abdominal hypertension", the presence of elevated intra-abdominal pressure, and "abdominal compartment syndrome", the development of pressure-induced organ-dysfunction and failure, have been increasingl...

Authors: Michael L Cheatham

Medical emergency motorcycle – is it useful in a Scandinavian Emergency Medical Service?

Medical emergency motorcycles (MEM) can be used in time-critical conditions like cardiac arrest and multi-traumatized patients in an attempt to reduce the response time. Other potential benefits with MEM are m...

Authors: Anders Rostrup Nakstad, Bjørn Bjelland and Mårten Sandberg

Cricoid pressure – friend or foe?

Authors: Tim Harris, Dan Ellis, David Lockey and Liz Foster

Hypothermia in injured patients – does it happen often?

Authors: Andreas Krüger, Oddvar Uleberg and Eirik Skogvoll

The Trauma Centre: a specialty hospital, not a hospital of specialties

Authors: Ross A Davenport, Nigel Tai, Anita West, Omar Bouamra, Christopher Aylwin, Maralyn Woodford, Ann McGinley, Fiona Lecky, Michael S Walsh and Karim Brohi

Pre-hospital recording of vital data in the severely head injured patient

Authors: Andreas Krüger, Oddvar Uleberg and Eirik Skogvoll

Redefining massive transfusion

Authors: Thomas C König, Timothy Morris, Christine Gaarder, Marc Maegele, Carel Goslings, Shuba Allard, Mitchell Cohen, Jean Francois Pittet, Pär Johansson, Simon Stanworth and Karim Brohi

Surgical management of penetrating pulmonary injuries

Chest injuries were reported as early as 3000 BC in the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus. Ancient Greek chronicles reveal that they had anatomic knowledge of the thoracic structures. Even in the ancient world, mos...

Authors: Patrizio Petrone and Juan A Asensio

Submersion, accidental hypothermia and cardiac arrest, mechanical chest compressions as a bridge to final treatment: a case report

Three young men were trapped in a car at the bottom of a canal at two meters depth, after losing control of their vehicle. They were brought up by rescue divers and found in cardiac arrest. One of three patien...

Authors: Hans Friberg and Malin Rundgren

Incidence of hospital referred head injuries in Norway: A population based survey from the Stavanger region

In three previous Norwegian studies conducted between 1974 and 1993, the annual incidence rates of hospital admitted head injuries were 236, 200 and 169 per 100,000 population. The aim of this study was to des...

Authors: Ben Heskestad, Roald Baardsen, Eirik Helseth, Bertil Romner, Knut Waterloo and Tor Ingebrigtsen

Successful use of inhaled nitric oxide to decrease intracranial pressure in a patient with severe traumatic brain injury complicated by acute respiratory distress syndrome: a role for an anti-inflammatory mechanism?

Use of inhaled nitric oxide in humans with traumatic brain injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome has twice previously been reported to be beneficial. Here we report a third case. We propose that INO m...

Authors: Thomas J Papadimos, Azedine Medhkour and Sooraj Yermal

Trauma and the acute care surgery model – should it embrace or replace general surgery?

The specialties dealing with emergency medicine and emergency surgery are in need for a new roadmap. While the medical and surgical management of emergency conditions very often go hand-in-hand, issues relatin...

Authors: Kjetil Søreide

Pediatric trauma deaths are predominated by severe head injuries during spring and summer

Trauma is the most prevalent cause of death in the young. Insight into cause and time of fatal pediatric and adolescent trauma is important for planning trauma care and preventive measures. Our aim was to anal...

Authors: Kjetil Søreide, Andreas J Krüger, Christian L Ellingsen and Kjell E Tjosevik

Fibrinogen metabolic responses to trauma

Coagulation complications are significant contributors to morbidity and mortality in trauma patients. Although the lethal triad of hypothermia, acidosis and coagulopathy has been recognized for over a decade, ...

Authors: Wenjun Zhou Martini

Precision of field triage in patients brought to a trauma centre after introducing trauma team activation guidelines

Field triage is important for regional trauma systems providing high sensitivity to avoid that severely injured are deprived access to trauma team resuscitation (undertriage), yet high specificity to avoid res...

Authors: Marius Rehn, Torsten Eken, Andreas Jorstad Krüger, Petter Andreas Steen, Nils Oddvar Skaga and Hans Morten Lossius

Three decades (1978–2008) of Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS™) practice revised and evidence revisited

The Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) Program was developed to teach doctors one safe, reliable method to assess and initially manage the trauma patient. The ATLS principles represents an organized approach ...

Authors: Kjetil Søreide

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation; use, training and self-confidence in skills. A self-report study among hospital personnel

Immediate start of basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and early defibrillation have been highlighted as crucial for survival from cardiac arrest, but despite new knowledge, new technology and massive pe...

Authors: Laila A Hopstock

Mechanical ventilation in the ICU- is there a gap between the time available and time used for nurse-led weaning?

Mechanical ventilation (MV) is a key component in the care of critically ill and injured patients. Weaning from MV constitutes a major challenge in intensive care units (ICUs). Any delay in weaning may increas...

Authors: Britt Sætre Hansen, Wenche Torunn Mathiesen Fjælberg, Odd Bjarte Nilsen, Hans Morten Lossius and Eldar Søreide

Vascular injuries after minor blunt upper extremity trauma: pitfalls in the recognition and diagnosis of potential "near miss" injuries

Low energy trauma to the upper extremity is rarely associated with a significant vascular injury. Due to the low incidence, a high level of suspicion combined with appropriate diagnostic algorithms are mandato...

Authors: Jonathan T Bravman, Kyros Ipaktchi, Walter L Biffl and Philip F Stahel

Pre-notification of arriving trauma patient at trauma centre: A retrospective analysis of the information in 700 consecutive cases

Pre-notification of an arriving trauma patient, given by transporting emergency medical unit, is needed in terms of facilitating the admitting emergency department to get ready for the patient before the patie...

Authors: Lauri E Handolin and Juhapetteri Jääskeläinen

Clinical presentation of a traumatic cervical spine disc rupture in alpine sports: a case report

Isolated non-skeletal injuries of the cervical spine are rare and frequently missed. Different evaluation algorithms for C-spine injuries, such as the Canadian C-spine Rule have been proposed, however with str...

Authors: Timo M Ecker, Mark Kleinschmidt, Luca Martinolli, Heinz Zimmermann and Aristomenis K Exadaktylos

Isolated vertebral fractures give elevated serum protein S-100B levels

Serum protein S-100B determinations have been widely proposed in the past as markers of traumatic brain injury and used as a predictor of injury severity and outcome. The purpose of this prospective observatio...

Authors: Lorin M Benneker, Christoph Leitner, Luca Martinolli, Kretschmer Robert, Heinz Zimmermann and Aristomenis K Exadaktylos

Spontaneous tension haemopneumothorax

We present a patient with sudden onset progressive shortness of breath and no history of trauma, who rapidly became haemodynamically compromised with a pneumothorax and pleural effusion seen on chest radiograp...

Authors: Benjamin Oliver Patterson, Sarah Itam and Fey Probst

The early minutes of in-hospital cardiac arrest: Shock or CPR? A population based prospective study

In the early minutes of cardiac arrest, timing of defibrillation and cardiopulmonary resuscitation during the basic life support phase (BLS CPR) is debated. Aims of this study were to provide in-hospital incid...

Authors: Eirik Skogvoll and Trond Nordseth

Neurological prognostication after cardiac arrest

Authors: Hans Friberg

Prognostication after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, a clinical survey

Numerous parameters and tests have been proposed for outcome prediction in comatose out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors. We conducted a survey of clinical practice of prognostication after therapeutic hyp...

Authors: Michael Busch and Eldar Søreide

The Utstein template for uniform reporting of data following major trauma: A valuable tool for establishing a pan-European dataset

Authors: Karim Brohi

The Utstein template for uniform reporting of data following major trauma: A joint revision by SCANTEM, TARN, DGU-TR and RITG

In 1999, an Utstein Template for Uniform Reporting of Data following Major Trauma was published. Few papers have since been published based on that template, reflecting a lack of international consensus on its...

Authors: Kjetil G Ringdal, Timothy J Coats, Rolf Lefering, Stefano Di Bartolomeo, Petter Andreas Steen, Olav Røise, Lauri Handolin and Hans Morten Lossius

Scandinavian Emergency Medicine – A toddler steadily walking but still not running

Authors: Maaret Castrén

Communication and empathy in an emergency setting involving persons in crisis

The article presents a study of the interaction between paramedics and parents in cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). We have sought to understand how the parents perceived the paramedics ability to ...

Authors: Halvor Nordby and Øyvind Nøhr

Retroperitoneal packing as part of damage control surgery in a Danish trauma centre – fast, effective, and cost-effective

Retroperitoneal packing in patients with severe haemorrhage is a cornerstone of modern pelvic fracture management. However, few Danish trauma surgeons have experience with this procedure, and trauma audits sho...

Authors: Allan Bach, Jørgen Bendix, Keld Hougaard and Erika Frischknecht Christensen

Prehospital airway management: the patient needs oxygen!

Authors: Harald V Genzwuerker

Pre-hospital advanced airway management by anaesthesiologists: Is there still room for improvement?

Endotracheal intubation is an important part of pre-hospital advanced life support that requires training and experience, and should only be performed by specially trained personnel. In Norway, anaesthesiologi...

Authors: Stephen JM Sollid, Jon Kenneth Heltne, Eldar Søreide and Hans Morten Lossius

The Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine – grown up at last

Authors: Hans Morten Lossius