• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.247-253
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• 2012

Purpose: Hemorrhage is a main cause of death in trauma patients. The goal of this study is to describe the characteristics of trauma patients with massive bleeding and to evaluate the prognostic factors concerning their survival. Methods: This study was performed retrospectively and included trauma patients with massive bleeding who had been treated from March 2007 to August 2012. The inclusion criterion was patients who received more than 10 U of packed red blood cells within the first 24 hours after visiting the emergency department. Based on their medical records, we collected data in terms of demographic findings, mechanisms of injury, initial clinical and laboratory findings, methods for hemostasis (emergency surgery and/or angioembolization), transfusion, injury severity score (ISS), revised trauma score (RTS) and trauma and injury severity score (TRISS). We used the Mann-Whitney U test and Fisher's exact test to compare the variables between the patients that survived and those that did not. We performed a logistic regression analysis with the significant variables from the univariate test. Results: Thirty-two(32) patients were enrolled. The main mechanisms of injury were falls and motor vehicle accidents. The mean transfusion amount of packed red blood cells (PRBC) was 17.4 U. The mean elapsed time for the first hemostasis (surgery or embolization) was 3.5 hours. The initial technical success rates were 83.3%(15/18) in angioembolization and 66.7%(8/12) in surgery. The overall mortality rate was 34.4%(11/32). The causes of death were bleeding, brain swelling and multiple organ failure. The ISS(25.5 vs 46.3, p=0.000), TRISS(73.6 vs 45.1, p=0.034) and base excess(<-12 mmol/L, p=0.020) were significantly different between the patients who survived and those who did not. Conclusion: The ISS was a prognostic factor for trauma patients with massive bleeding.

• The Korean Journal of Emergency Medical Services
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.113-125
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• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate factors influencing severity of occupational fall injury. Methods: A self-reported questionnaire was completed by 105 patients sustaining occupational fall injury between July 2010 and January 2013. The study instruments were developed by the National Traumatic Occupational Fatalities and National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. The questionnaire consisted of general characteristics of the subjects (30 items), workplace characteristics (12 items) and disaster characteristic (13 items). Results: Demographic factors, except age, did not affect the severity of injury. Injured patients aged 50-59 years tended to have more severe injuries than those aged 39 years. Type of transport vehicles, conditions, and the circumstances of the fall influenced injury severity. Patients transported by 119 ambulance suffered more severe fall injuries than those who were not. Electrical workers did not receive safety education wihin a year. Critical height in severe injuries was > 6 meters. Conclusion: Occupational fall injuries were influenced by patient age, types of transport vehicles, fall height, size of workplace, and safety education experience.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.139-144
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• 2012

Purpose: Hypovolemic shock is the leading cause of death in multiple trauma patients with pelvic bone fracures. The purpose of this study was to develop a simple prediction method for injury severity and amount of hemorrhage via an analysis of the correlation between the site of pelvic bone fracture and the amount of transfusion and to verify the usefulness of the such a simple scoring system. Methods: We analyzed retrospectively the medical records and radiologic examination of 102 patients who had been diagnosed as having a pelvic bone fracture and who had visited the Emergency Department between January 2007 and December 2011. Fracture sites in the pelvis were confirmed and re-classified anatomically as pubis, ilium or sacrum. A multiple linear regression analysis was performed on the amount of transfusion, and a simplified scoring system was developed. The predictive value of the amount of transfusion for the scoring system as verified by using the receiver operating characteristics (ROC). The area under the curve of the ROC was compared with the injury severity score (ISS). Results: From among the 102 patients, 97 patients (M:F=68:29, mean $age=46.7{\pm}16.6years$) were enrolled for analysis. The average ISS of the patients was $16.2{\pm}7.9$, and the average amount of packed RBC transfusion for 24 hr was $3.9{\pm}4.6units$. The regression equation resulting from the multiple linear regression analysis was 'packed RBC units=1.40${\times}$(sacrum fracture)+1.72${\times}$(pubis fracture)+1.67${\times}$(ilium fracture)+0.36' and was found to be suitable (p=0.005). We simplified the regression equation to 'Pelvic Bleeding Score=sacrum+pubis+ilium.' Each fractured site was scored as 0(no fracture) point, 1(right or left) point, or 2(both) points. Sacrum had only 0 or 1 point. The score ranged from 0 to 5. The area under the curve (AUC) of the ROC was 0.718 (95% CI: 0.588-0.848, p=0.009). For an upper Pelvis Bleeding Score of 3 points, the sensitivity of the prediction for a massive transfusion was 71.4%, and the specificity was 69.9%. Conclusion: We developed a simplified scoring system for the anatomical fracture sites in the pelvis to predict the requirement for a transfusion (Pelvis Bleeding Score (PBS)). The PBS, compared with the ISS, is considered a useful predictor of the need for a transfusion during initial management.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.130-134
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• 2013

Background: Rib fractures are the most common type of thoracic trauma and cause other complications. We explored the risk factors for pneumonia in patients with multiple rib fractures. Materials and Methods: Four hundred and eighteen patients who visited our hospital with multiple rib fractures between January 2002 and December 2008 were retrospectively reviewed. Chest X-rays and chest computed tomography were used to identify injury severity. Patients with only a single rib fracture or who were transferred to another hospital within 2 days were excluded. Results: There were 327 male patients (78%), and the median age was 53 years. The etiologies of the patients' trauma included traffic accidents in 164 cases (39%), falls in 78 cases (19%), slipping and falling in 90 (22%), pedestrian accidents in 30 (7%), industrial accidents in 41 (10%), and assault in 15 (4%). The median number of rib fractures was 4.8. Pulmonary complications including flail chest (2.3%), lung contusion (22%), hemothorax (62%), pneumothorax (31%), and hemopneumothorax (20%) occurred. Chest tubes were inserted into the thoracic cavity in 216 cases (52%), and the median duration of chest tube insertion was 10.26 days. The Injury Severity Score (ISS) and rib score had a median of 15.27 and 6.9, respectively. Pneumonia occurred in 18 cases (4.3%). Of the total cases, 33% of the cases were managed in the intensive care unit (ICU), and the median duration of stay in the ICU was 7.74 days. Antibiotics were administered in 399 patients (95%) for a median of 10.53 days. Antibiotics were used for more than 6 days in 284 patients (68%). The factors affecting pneumonia in patients with multiple rib fractures in multivariate analysis included age (p=0.004), ISS (p<0.001), and rib score (p=0.038). The use of antibiotics was not associated with the occurrence of pneumonia (p=0.28). In-hospital mortality was 5.3% (n=22). Conclusion: The factors affecting risk of pneumonia in patients with multiple rib fractures included age (p=0.004), ISS (p<0.001), and rib score (p=0.038). Elderly patients with multiple traumas have a high risk of pneumonia and should be treated accordingly.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.95-97
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• 2011

Purpose: We analyzed the medical costs for severely traumatized patients according to the severity and medical performance so that we could improve the financial balance of the trauma center. Methods: Retrospective analysis was performed on patients visiting SNUH Trauma Center from May 2011 to August 2011. Among a total of 55 severely traumatized patients, 31 patients whose medical bills were available and categorized were included in this study. The injury severity score (ISS) was calculated from the abbreviated injury score (AIS), which was updated in 2008,for each patient to assess the severity of injury. Major trauma was defined as an ISS above 15. Results:The 31 patients in this study included 20 males and 11 females. The average ISS was $33.23{\pm}16.65$ points. We categorize the patients into three groups according to ISS, 16-24: group 1, 25-40: group 2, and above 41: group 3. Total incomes, admission fees, surgery fees, and imaging test fees are shown in table 1. The costs seem to be higher costs in group 2, but this result has no statistical significance. Statistical significantly data are as follows: high radiologic test fees in group 1, short hospital stay in groups 1 and 2, and short ICU stay in group 1. The average hospital stay was 17 days, and the average emergency intensive care unit (EICU) stay was 7.5 days. Although the EICU stay was only 44% of the total hospital stay, the income from the EICU covers 79.4% of the total hospital income. Conclusion: From this study, we found several items that show relatively high medical income from severely traumatized patients visiting the SNUH Trauma Center. Most of the medical fees arise in the early phase of acute medicine usually in the ICU. Efforts to identify the items with high income and to minimize expenses will improve the financial structure of the Trauma Center,which is facing a budget crisis.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.147-154
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• 2021

Purpose: We analyzed the characteristics and outcomes of patients with bicycle-related injuries at a regional trauma center in northern Gyeonggi Province as a first step toward the development of improved prevention measures and treatments. Methods: The records of 239 patients who were injured in different types of bicycle-related accidents and transported to a single regional trauma center between January 2017 and December 2018 were examined. This retrospective single-center study used data from the Korea Trauma Database. Results: In total, 239 patients experienced bicycle-related accidents, most of whom were males (204, 85.4%), and 46.9% of the accidents were on roads for automobiles. Forty patients (16.7%) had an Injury Severity Score (ISS) of 16 or more. There were 125 patients (52.3%) with head/neck/face injuries, 97 patients (40.6%) with injuries to the extremities, 59 patients (24.7%) with chest injuries, and 21 patients (8.8%) with abdominal injuries. Patients who had head/neck/face injuries and an Abbreviated Injury Score (AIS) ≥3 were more likely to experience severe trauma (ISS ≥16). In addition, only 13 of 125 patients (10.4%) with head/neck/face injuries were wearing helmets, and patients with injuries in this region who were not wearing helmets had a 3.9-fold increased odds ratio of severe injury (AIS ≥2). Conclusions: We suggest that comprehensive accident prevention measures, including safety training and expansion of safety facilities, should be implemented at the governmental level, and that helmet wearing should be more strictly enforced to prevent injuries to the head, neck, and face.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.75-79
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• 2017

Purpose: Although trauma is the most common cause of death under age 18, Korean national pediatric trauma data has lack of clinical data. This study is to prepare manpower resources, equipment, and make a correct policy decision on pediatric trauma victims Methods: The study enrolled 528 patients under age 16 with traumatic injury visited Wonju Severance Christian Hostpital Trauma Center, from February 12, 2015 to December 31, 2016. We analyzed the distribution of gender, age, place and time of the accident, injury mechanism, injury severity, and injured organ by medical record. Results: The major injury mechanisms were blunt injury in 485 (91.90%), penetrating injury in 27 (5.10%), burn in 13 (2.50%), near drowning in 2 (0.40%), and foreign body ingestion in 1 (0.20%). Ninety-seven (18.4%) patients were injured at home and 67 (12.7%) patients were injured at school. The overall mortality rate was 1.13% (n=6). 5 mortalities were related to automobile accident and one was fall down. Mean Injury Severity Score (ISS) was 4 (2, 8). No statistical significance was observed in the mean ISS between each age group. The peak time of accident occurrence was between 16 and 17 o'clock. The mean ISS was higher in blunt injury group than penetrating injury with statistical significance ($6.50{\pm}7.60$ vs. $3.00{\pm}8.10$; p<0.05). The most common injury site was upper extremity. Mean ISS was highest in thorax injury. However, mean ISS of thorax injury was higher with statistical significance only compared with face, neck and upper extremity injury. Conclusions: We reported our pediatric trauma patients data of our hospital level I trauma center, which is the only one level I trauma center of Gangwon Province. These data is useful to prevent and prepare for pediatric trauma.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.126-130
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• 2017

Purpose: Preventable Trauma Death Rate (PTDR) using Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS) has been most widely used as a quality indicator in South Korea. However, this method has a small number of deaths corresponding to the denominator. Therefore, it is difficult to check the change of quality improvement for annual mortality, and there is a disadvantage that variation is severe. Therefore, we attempted to improve the quality of the mortality evaluation by reducing the variation by applying the PARK Index (preventable major trauma death rate, PMTDR) which can increase the number of denominator significantly. And the Save score (S-score) was also examined as another quality indicator. Methods: In the PARK Index, the denominator is number of all patients who have survival probability (Ps) larger than 0.25. Numerator is the number of deaths among these. The PARK Index includes only patients with ISS >15. The S-score is calculated in the same way as the W-score, but the S-score includes only patients with ISS >15, which is a difference from the W-score. Results: PARK Index decreased annually and was 12.9 (37/287) in 2014, 9.6 (33/343) in 2015, and 7.3 (52/709) in 2016. S-score increased annually and was -0.29 in 2014, 4.21 in 2015, and 8.75 in 2016. Conclusions: PARK Index and S-score improved annually. This shows that both quality indicators are improving year by year. PARK Index (PMTDR) has 9.5-fold increase in denominator overall compared to PTDR by TRISS. The S-score used only ISS >15 patients as a denominator. Therefore, there is an advantage that the numerical value change is larger than the W-score. In addition, S-score is not affected by the ratio of major trauma patients to minor trauma patients.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.256-261
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• 2015

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of blood alcohol concentration (BAC) on the clinical parameters in trauma patients. Methods: From January 2011 to March 2013, the records of a total of 102 trauma patients with BAC data were analyzed retrospectively. The revised trauma score (RTS), injury severity score (ISS), presence of shock, use of mechanical ventilation and blood transfusion, length of hospital stay, and mortality were collected. Patients were divided into four groups in accordance with the level of BAC: group A (<100 mg/dL), B (100~200 mg/dL), C (200~250 mg/dL), and D (>250 mg/dL). Patients were also divided into two groups depending on the presence of the shock, and gender, ISS, BAC, and presence of active bleeding were compared between these two groups. Results: No statistically significant differences in the ISS, RTS, presence of active bleeding, use of mechanical ventilation, and mortality were noted between groups A to D. However, the presence of shock was significantly higher in group D. After patients with severe chest injuries had been excluded, mechanical ventilation was found to have been applied more frequently in the higher BAC groups (C and D). A logistic regression analysis of these factors showed that extremely high BAC (>250 mg/dL) was an independent indicator of shock. Conclusion: High BAC is a predicator of shock and the need for mechanical ventilation in patients with trauma, regardless of injury severity. Alcohol intoxication leads to an overestimate of the clinical condition and aggressive management for trauma patients. Thus, a guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of patients intoxicated with alcohol is necessary.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.39-43
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• 2021

Purpose: Determining appropriate ways to assess health care quality within the National Health Insurance System is of interest to both the Korean government and the medical community. However, in the trauma field, the number of indicators used to evaluate surgical quality is limited. Using data collected over 5 years at Wonju Severance Christian Hospital Trauma Center in Korea, this study aimed to determine whether the unplanned reoperation rate in the field of trauma surgery could be used to assess the quality of an institution's surgical care. Methods: In total, 665 general surgical procedures were performed at the Trauma Center in 453 patients with abdominopelvic injuries from January 2015 to December 2019. Data were collected from the Trauma Center's data registry and medical records, and included information regarding patients' demographic characteristics, the type of index operation, and the reason for unplanned reoperations. Results: A total of 453 index operations were evaluated. The proportion of patients with an Injury Severity Score (ISS) >15 was 48-70% over the 5-year period, with an unplanned reoperation rate of 2.1-9.3%. Patients had an average ISS score of 17.5, while the average Abbreviated Injury Scale Score was 2.87. Unplanned reoperations were required in about 7% of patients. The most common complications requiring reoperation were recurrent bleeding (26.9%), wound problems (26.9%), intestinal infarction (15.4%), and anastomosis site leakage (7.7%). The procedures most frequently requiring unplanned reoperations were bowel surgery (segmental resection, primary repair, enterostomy, etc.) (24.5%) and preperitoneal pelvic packing (10.6%). Conclusions: The proportion of reoperations was confirmed to be affected by injury severity.