Assessment of severity and prognosis of polytrauma outcome: The current state of the problem

Abstract

The review deals with modern methods of assessing the severity and predicting the outcome of polytrauma. To solve the problem of objective evaluation of polytrauma severity, numerous studies are devoted to the search for independent predictors of its outcome, many of which are included in various scales and statistical models to quantitatively rank the severity of injury in the established intervals and calculate the survival probability. It is generally accepted to take into account the anatomical criteria to determine the severity of damage, and physiological parameters that characterize the response of the body functional systems to the damage. Age, sex, comorbidities, various clinical parameters, indices of acidosis, coagulopathy, oxidative stress, inflammatory response, timely diagnosing and the quality of treatment, the need of rendering various types of emergency aid are considered as independent risk factors of fatal polytrauma outcome. The predictive value and comparative effectiveness used in polytrauma scales assessing the severity of injuries (ISS, NISS, APS, ICISS, TMPM) and functional disorders (GCS, RTS, APACHE II, MODS II, SOFA, SAPS II, MPM II) as well as a variety of combined clinical and anatomical evaluation systems (TRISS, ASCOT, RISC II, PTS, etc.) are being actively discussed in the modern literature. Creating a universal scale is complicated by a variety of damages and disorders caused by a polytrauma, and insufficient study of injury outcome predictors. The proposed survival rates and prognostic factors are tied to specific polytrauma databases differing in terms of mortality and quality of medical care, which is reflected in their predictive value. A clear definition of polytrauma and formation of a unified system of assessing its severity would allow physicians to standardize treatment policy, objectively solve the problems of organization and financial support of medical help to seriously injured people.