Analysis of traumatic cardiorespiratory arrest cases in a level 3 emergency department

Abstract

Aim: Our study aims to investigate the return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) outcomes in traumatic arrest patients that were admitted to the emergency department (ED). Methods: This study retrospectively investigates traumatic cardiorespiratory arrest (TCA) cases that were admitted to the level 3 ED of a university hospital between October 1, 2016 and April 30, 2019. The study includes TCA cases where cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed in the preclinical phase, and/or after admission to the ED. Additional data were collected for statistical analysis: ROSC, age, gender, mechanism of injury, laboratory findings, injury severity scores (ISS), imaging methods, and consultation requests. The exclusion criteria were as follows: (a) non-traumatic arrest, (b) incomplete records. Results: A total of 41 TCA patients were included in the study. ROSC was achieved in 16 patients (39.0%). Ten subjects (24.4%) were female and 31 (75.6%) were male, and the mean age of the sample group was 46.56±26.49 years. ROSC did not significantly depend on gender or age (p=0.612, 0.064, respectively). Most of the traumatic injuries were in the head-neck region, the extremities, and the thorax. ROSC did not significantly depend on the mechanism of injury (p=0.620). ROSC was significantly correlated with ISS scores (p=0.006). Conclusion: According to our data, TCA mostly occur due to blunt trauma among the young adult male population and ISS scores seem useful in predicting ROSC. Trauma team formation should be directed to reversible causes of TCA, such as bleeding control, blood/blood product transfusions, and thoracostomy, to improve patient outcomes.