Objective: Trauma care depends on a complex transfer system to ensure timely and adequate management at major trauma centers. Patient outcomes depend on the reliability of triage in local or community hospitals and access to tertiary or quaternary trauma institutions. Patients with polytrauma, extremity trauma, or vascular injuries require multidisciplinary management at trauma hospitals. Our study investigated outcomes in this population at a level one trauma center in San Bernardino County, the largest geographic county in the contiguous United States.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of all patients with extremity trauma who presented to a single level 1 trauma center over 10 years. The cohort was divided into two groups:1. transferred from another medical center for a higher level of care or 2. those who directly presented. Overall, 19,417 patients were identified, with 15,317 patients presenting directly and 3,830 patients transferred from an outside hospital. Extremity of vascular injuries was observed in 268 patients. Demographic data were ascertained, including the injury severity score (ISS), mechanism of injury, response level, arrival method, tertiary center emergency department disposition, and presence of vascular injury in the upper or lower extremities. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to assess patient mortality.
Results: A total of 268 patients with vascular injuries were analyzed, including 207 non-transferred and 61 transferred patients. In the univariate analysis, ISS means were compared at 11.4 in non-transferred patients versus 8.4 in transferred (p < 0.001), 50% of blunt injury in the non-transferred group, and 28% in the transferred group (p < 0.001); in-hospital mortality was 4% in non-transferred patients versus 28% in the transferred group (p < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression demonstrated that mortality is eight times more likely if a patient with vascular extremity injuries is transferred from an outside hospital. A 10% mortality rate was observed in patients without blood transfusion within four hours of arrival to the trauma center and 3% mortality in transferred patients transfused blood.
Conclusion: Extremity trauma with vascular injury can be lethal if managed appropriately. Patients transferred to our level 1 trauma center had a substantial increase in mortality compared with non-transferred patients. Furthermore, the transfer distance was associated with increased mortality. Further research is required to address this vulnerable patient population.
Keywords: Arterial Injury; Vascular Trauma; Venous Injury.
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