• Journal of Trauma and Injury
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.61-67
• /
• 2011

Purpose: Lawn trimmers are widely used to cut the weeds around graves in South Korea, but they can cause ocular injury. We investigate at the emergency room the incidence and the clinical features of ocular trauma induced by lawn trimmers. Methods:The authors analyzed 106 patients who visited Konyang University Hospital's emergency room from March 1, 2007, to October 31, 2011, because of ocular trauma caused by a lawn trimmer. Patients were sorted into two groups, severe ocular injury and mild ocular injury. Results: Over a 5-year period, 106 patients with ocular trauma caused by a lawn trimmer underwent clinical study. Most of the patient (103 patients) were males, and the average age of the patients was $51.75{\pm}11.66$ years. The incidence of ocular trauma peaked in the sixth decade of life. Most injuries occurred between July and September. Severe ocular injury developed in 46.2% of all patients. As age increased, so did the severity of the ocular injury. The impacting object was a small stone in 43.4% of all patients. Nobody wore protective gear. The most common diagnosis were corneal abrasion, followed by intraocular foreign body, corneal laceration, and sclera laceration. Fifty-four patients were followed up, and thirty-six patients of them had severe injury. The most common complication was a traumatic cataract. Conclusion: Ocular trauma induced by a lawn trimmer is more severe than general ocular trauma. We suggest that everyone using a lawn trimmer should wear protective gear and follow safety guidelines.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• v.45 no.4
• /
• pp.253-255
• /
• 2009

Spontaneous spinal subarachnoid hematoma (SSH) is a rare entity to cause spinal cord or nerve root compression and is usually managed as surgical emergencies. We report a case of spontaneous SSH manifesting as severe lumbago, which demonstrated nearly complete clinical resolution with conservative treatment A 58-year-old female patient developed a large SSH, which was not related to blood dyscrasia, anticoagulation, lumbar puncture. or trauma. Patient had severe lumbago but no neurologic deficits. Because of absence of neurologic deficits, she was treated conservatively. Follow-up magnetic resonance (MR) image showed complete resolution. Conservative treatment of SSH may be considered if the patient with spontaneous SSH has no neurologic deficits.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.57-60
• /
• 2021

Warfarin is used as part of the treatment of various diseases, and laboratory monitoring of its effects is required. Airway hematoma secondary to warfarin is rare, but can be fatal because of potential airway obstruction. Rapid definitive airway establishment is crucial if airway obstruction is suspected. This complication is more likely to occur in those with elevated coagulation laboratory values. However, we experienced a patient in whom a massive retropharyngeal hematoma caused airway obstruction after a non-severe motor vehicle collision. The patient had been taking warfarin, and had coagulation parameter values within the normal ranges. A major fracture or hemorrhage was not anticipated. Upon examination, a massive retropharyngeal hematoma was noted. Orotracheal intubation failed due to an airway obstruction. Emergency tracheostomy and an operation for hematoma removal were performed. Physicians must always consider the possibility of airway hematoma in warfarin-taking patients with normal coagulation values regardless of the severity of mechanism of injury.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.178-187
• /
• 2012

Purpose: In Korea, the nation's medical expenses were 12 billion won in 2010. The medical costs for individuals can also be overwhelming. If a patient has sustained severe trauma, his/her insurance company responsible may pay only part of the medical bills. In Korean, there are diverse types of medical insurance, such as health insurance, automobile insurance, and industrial accident compensation insurance. And each insurance system has a different type of payment system. Our study will be essential for establishing the optimal medical expense payment system. Methods: From January to December 2011, we retrospectively reviewed the medical charts of 161 patients who were admitted to our hospital's emergency room after having undergone severe trauma. Of those 161 patients, 125 were retrospectively reviewed. Written permission was obtained from all of the patients. We analysed the demographic characteristics, clinical outcomes, data of the trauma, type of the patient's insurance, and the entire bill when the patient was discharged. Results: Seventy-one patients had health insurance, 48 automobile insurance, and six industrial accident compensation insurance. High-deductible insurance included health insurance and industrial accident compensation insurance, with the deductibles up to 20.6% and 19.1%, respectively. We attempted to analyze the cause of the high deductible rate. In patients with health insurance, medicines, primarily sedatives, pain killers, antibiotics, and fluids. comprised a large proportion. On the other hand, industrial accident compensation insurance deducted for a high-grade hospital room charge. Conclusion: We found that medical expenses were diverse according to the type of insurance. In particular, health insurance forced patients to pay too much of the medical expenses. Therefore, in Korea we should try to identify the insurance problems and improve the wage system.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.24 no.10
• /
• pp.987-992
• /
• 1991

Severe cardiac injury due to nonpenetrating blunt chest trauma is not uncommon, but survival to reach the hospital is rare. Successful management of fatal cardiac rupture depends on the high suspicion and on the prompt exploration. In the patient presented, the interatrial septal rupture was found associated with the right atrial rupture and the patient was successfully treated under the cardiopulmonary bypass. Although many types of cardiac rupture cases survived have been reported in the literature, we have been unable to find the interatrial septal rupture case like us. We would therefore like to report our experience with surgical repair of nonpenetrating rupture of right atrium and interatrial septum.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.104-107
• /
• 2015

Purpose: Nitric oxide (NO) is a vasodilator and inhaled NO (iNO) is used in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) to improve alveolocapillary gas exchange. The mechanism to improve oxygenation is likely to redistribute blood flow from unventilated areas to ventilated areas. Though improvement of oxygenation, iNO therapy has not been shown to improve mortality and considered as only rescue therapy in severe hypoxemia. We conducted the study to investigate an efficacy of iNO in trauma patients with severe hypoxemia. Methods: We reviewed the trauma patients who underwent iNO therapy retrospectively from 2010 to 2014. Degree of hypoxemia was represented as $PaO_2/FiO_2$ ratio (PFR) and the severity of patient was represented with sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score. Patients were divided into the survivor group and non-survivor group according to the 28-day mortality. Results: A total of 20 patients were enrolled. The mortality of 28-day was 40%. There were no significant differences between survivor and non-survivor group in age, sex, severity of injury, PFR and SOFA score. There was significant difference in initiation time of iNO after injury (p=0.047). Maximum combinations of sensitivity and specificity for timing of iNO therapy were observed using cut-off of 3-day after injury with a sensitivity of 88% and specificity of 75%. Conclusion: Though iNO therapy does not influence the mortality, iNO therapy may decrease the mortality caused by respiratory failure in the early phase of trauma.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.130-135
• /
• 2021

Celiac artery compression is a rare condition in which the celiac artery is compressed by the median arcuate ligament. Case reports of compression after trauma are hard to find. Blunt traumatic pericardium rupture is also a rare condition. We report a single patient who experienced both rare conditions from a single blunt injury. An 18-year-old woman was brought to the trauma center after a fatal motorcycle accident, in which she was a passenger. The driver was found dead. Her vital signs were stable, but she complained of mild abdominal pain, chest wall pain, and severe back pain. There were no definite neurologic deficits. Her initial computed tomography (CT) scan revealed multiple rib fractures, moderate lung contusions with hemothorax, moderate liver injury, and severe lumbar spine fracture and dislocation. She was brought to the angiography room to check for active bleeding in the liver, which was not apparent. However, the guide wire was not able to pass through the celiac trunk. A review of the initial CT revealed kinking of the celiac trunk, which was assumed to be due to altered anatomy of the median arcuate ligament caused by spine fractures. Immediate fixation of the vertebrae was performed. During recovery, her hemothorax remained loculated. Suspecting empyema, thoracotomy was performed at 3 weeks after admission, revealing organized hematoma without pus formation, as well as rupture of the pericardium, which was immediately sutured, and decortication was carried out. Five weeks after admission, she had recovered without complications and was discharged home.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.106-113
• /
• 2024

Purpose: Helicopter transport with medical teams has been proven to be effective, with improvements in patient survival rates. This study compared and analyzed the clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes of trauma patients transported by doctor helicopters according to whether patients were transferred after a clinical evaluation or without a clinical evaluation. Methods: This study retrospectively reviewed data from the Korean Trauma Data Bank of trauma patients who arrived at a regional trauma center through doctor helicopters from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2022. The patients were divided into two groups: doctor helicopter transport before evaluation (DHTBE) and doctor helicopter transport after evaluation (DHTAE). These groups were compared. Results: The study population included 351 cases. At the time of arrival at the trauma center, the systolic blood pressure was significantly lower in the DHTAE group than in the DHTBE group (P=0.018). The Injury Severity Score was significantly higher in the DHTAE group (P<0.001), and the accident to trauma center arrival time was significantly shorter in the DHTBE group (P<0.001). Mortality did not show a statistically significant between-group difference (P=0.094). Surgical cases in the DHTAE group had a longer time from the accident scene to trauma center arrival (P=0.002). The time from the accident to the operation room or from the accident to angioembolization showed no statistically significant differences. Conclusions: DHTAE was associated with significantly longer transport times to the trauma center, as well as nonstatistically significant trends for delays in receiving surgery and procedures, as well as higher mortality. If severe trauma is suspected, air transport to a trauma center should be requested immediately after a simple screening test (e.g., mechanism of injury, Glasgow Coma Scale, or Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma), which may help reduce the time to definitive treatment.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.87-90
• /
• 2012

Blunt diaphragmatic rupture (BDR) is a relatively rare injury and occurs in 0.8% to 7% of all thorocoabdominal blunt trauma. Especially right diaphragmatic rupture after blunt abdominal trauma is a rarer than left. The diagnosis of BDR can be missed while evaluating the multiple trauma patient. Other severe injuries may mask BDR during the primary resuscitation and survey. We experienced two cases of traumatic rupture of right diaphragm, one diagnosed immediately and the other diagnosed delayed. In this paper we present two cases of traumatic diaphragmatic rupture.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.27-30
• /
• 2015

A child sustained a car tire friction injury and had multiple soft tissue wounds. She had a severe soft tissue defect in the medial foot and ankle aspect which requiring flap coverage. We performed an adipoafscial flap with upside-down pattern for the treatment of the medial foot and ankle soft tissue posttraumatic defect. The flap is based on the perforator artery from the posterior tibial artery. Because it gave a thin coverage for the foot, the patient could walk with normal foot wear.