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Background: Splenic artery embolisation (SAE) has become a vital strategy in the modern landscape of multidisciplinary trauma care, improving splenic salvage rates in patients with high-grade injury. However, due to a lack of prospective data there remains contention amongst stakeholders as to whether SAE should be performed at the time of presentation (prophylactic or pSAE), or whether patients should be observed, and SAE only used only if a patient re-bleeds. This systematic review aimed to assess published practice management guidelines which recommend pSAE, stratified according to their quality. Methods: The study was registered and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. Medline, PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, and Google Scholar were searched by the study authors. Identified guidelines were graded according to the Appraisal of Guidelines Research and Evaluation II (AGREE-II) instrument. Results: Database and internet searches identified 1006 results. After applying exclusion criteria, 28 guidelines were included. The use of pSAE was recommended in 15 guidelines (54%). This included 6 out of 9 guidelines that were high quality (66.7%), 4 out of 9 guidelines that were moderate quality (44.4%), and 3 out of 10 (30%) guidelines that were low quality, p = 0.275. Conclusions: This systematic review showed that recommendation of pSAE is more common in guidelines which are of high quality. However, there is vast heterogeneity of recommended practice guidelines, likely based on individual trauma systems rather than the available evidence. This reflects biases with interpretation of data and lack of multidisciplinary system inputs, including from interventional radiologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Operating since 2012 under the auspices of the Australian Trauma Quality Improvement Program (AusTQIP), the Australian Trauma Registry (ATR) has established itself as a leading clinical quality registry (CQR). Initially developed as a national program for improved safety and quality trauma care across Australian trauma centers, it has since expanded to include New Zealand, becoming one of the few bi-national trauma registries. The registry has recorded close to 100,000 episodes of care for severely injured patients since its inception, with 10.7% growth in annual inclusions. The ATR, administered by the National Trauma Research Institute (NTRI), monitors the continuum of trauma care from pre-hospital settings, to discharge from definitive care. Collection and analysis of data about severely injured trauma patients, their injuries, management and outcomes, aims to inform future improvements to health service provision and reduce preventable morbidity and mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess trends in management of flail chest injuries over time and to determine impact on patient outcomes. Methods: A retrospective review of data from a prospectively collated database of all trauma patients admitted to a level 1 trauma service in Victoria was conducted. All trauma patients admitted to the hospital between July 2008 and June 2020 with an Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) code for flail chest injury were included. Results: Our study included 720 patients, mean age was 59.5 ± 17.3 years old, and 76.5% of patients were male. Length of ICU stay decreased on average by 9 h each year. Regional anaesthesia use increased by 15% per year (0% in 2009 to 36% in 2020) (p < 0.001). Surgical stabilisation of rib fractures increased by 16% per year (2.9% in 2009 to 22.3% in 2020) (p = 0.006). The use of invasive ventilation decreased by 14% per year (70% in 2008 to 27% in 2020) (p < 0.001), and invasive ventilation time decreased by 8 h per year (p = 0.007). Conclusion: Over the past decade, we have seen increasing rates of regional anaesthesia and surgical rib fixation in the management of flail chest. This has resulted in lower requirements for and duration of invasive mechanical ventilation and intensive care unit stay but has not impacted mortality in this patient cohort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the development of angiography and transcatheter techniques, interventional radiology has played an important role in the management of trauma patients. Interventional radiology is now a primary interventional option for solid abdominal organ haemorrhage and pelvic injury haemorrhage. The next challenge for multidisciplinary trauma teams is to integrate IR into acute trauma resuscitation and to achieve expeditious haemorrhage control as part of trauma reception and resuscitation. [Extracted from the article]