Abstract
BACKGROUND: Blunt pulmonary contusions are associated with severe chest injuries and are independently associated with worse outcomes. Previous preclinical studies suggest that contusion progression precipitates poor pulmonary function; however, there are few current clinical data to corroborate this hypothesis. We examined pulmonary dynamics and oxygenation in subjects with pulmonary contusions to evaluate for impaired respiratory function.
METHODS: A chest injury database was reviewed for pulmonary contusions over 5 years at an urban trauma center. This database was expanded to capture mechanical ventilation parameters for the first 7 days on all patients with pulmonary contusion and who were intubated. Daily PaO2:FIO2, oxygenation indexes (OI), and dynamic compliances were calculated. Pulmonary contusions were stratified by severity. The Fisher exact and chi square tests were performed on categorical variables, and Mann-Whitney U-tests were performed on continuous variables. Significance was assessed at a level of 0.05.
RESULTS: A total of 1,176 patients presented with pulmonary contusions, of whom, 301 subjects (25.6%) required intubation and had available invasive mechanical ventilation data. Of these, 144 (47.8%) had mild-moderate pulmonary contusion and 157 (52.2%) had severe pulmonary contusion. Overall injury severity score was high, with a median injury severity score of 29 (interquartile range, 22–38). The median duration of mechanical ventilation for mild-moderate pulmonary contusion was 7 d versus 10 d for severe pulmonary contusion (P = .477). All the subjects displayed moderate hypoxemia, which worsened until day 4–5 after intubation. Severe pulmonary contusion was associated with significantly worse early hypoxia on day 1 and day 2 versus mild-moderate pulmonary contusion. Severe pulmonary contusion also had a higher oxygenation index than mild-moderate pulmonary contusion. This trend persisted after adjustment for other factors, including transfusion and fluid administration.
CONCLUSIONS: Pulmonary contusions played an important role in the course of subjects who were acutely injured and required mechanical ventilation. Contusions were associated with hypoxemia not fully characterized by PaO2: FIO2, and severe contusions had durable elevations in the oxygenation index despite confounders.
- trauma
- pulmonary contusion
- chest injury
- blunt injury
- ventilator
Footnotes
- Correspondence: Christopher F Janowak MD, Department of Surgery, University of Cincinnati, 231 Albert Sabin Way, ML 0558, Cincinnati, OH 45267. E-mail: christopher.janowak{at}uc.edu
↵† Deceased.
- Copyright © 2022 by Daedalus Enterprises
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