Authors: Kathryn Atkins, Andrew Schneider, Jared Gallaher, Bruce Cairns, Anthony Charles
Journal: Injury
Publication Date: September 13, 2023
Conclusion:
- The study concludes that despite the increasing rates of RT, the procedure does not significantly improve mortality in adults with penetrating traumatic cardiac arrest.
- University teaching hospitals are more likely to perform RT, but this does not translate to an improvement in mortality rates.
Methods:
- A review of the National Trauma Data Bank from 2017 to 2021 was conducted.
- The study focused on adults (16 years and older) who experienced penetrating trauma and prehospital cardiac arrest.
- The data were stratified by the performance of an RT, and multivariable logistic regressions were performed to estimate the effects.
Results:
- A total of 13,115 patients met the inclusion criteria, with RT being performed on 12.7% (n = 1,664) of them.
- There was an upward trend in the rates of RT over the study period.
- Crude mortality was comparable between RT and non-RT patients (95.6% vs. 94.5%, p = 0.07), with no significant difference in adjusted odds of mortality based on RT status (OR 0.82, 95% CI 0.56-1.21).
- University-teaching hospitals had higher adjusted odds (OR 1.68, 95% CI 1.31-2.17) of performing RT compared to non-teaching hospitals, but no difference in adjusted odds of mortality based on hospital teaching status was found.
Atkins, K., Schneider, A., Gallaher, J., Cairns, B. and Charles, A., 2023. Who benefits from resuscitative thoracotomies following penetrating trauma: The patient or the learner?. Injury, p.111033.