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Snapshot of trauma laparotomy deaths in Queensland
Author(s) -
Ashrafi Darius,
ReyConde Therese,
North John B.,
Wysocki Arkadiusz P.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
anz journal of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.426
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-2197
pISSN - 1445-1433
DOI - 10.1111/ans.14431
Subject(s) - medicine , laparotomy , surgery , penetrating trauma , audit , general surgery , blunt , management , economics
Background Trauma remains the most frequent cause of death for patients under 35 years of age. Head injury and catastrophic haemorrhage account for the majority of early deaths. A trauma laparotomy is often necessary to arrest haemorrhage. Methods All patients who died in Queensland hospitals between 2011 and 2016 having had a trauma laparotomy were identified from the Queensland Audit of Surgical Mortality. Results About 69.0% of the 84 deaths were male with a median age of 47.6 years. About 64.3% of deaths occurred within the first 2 days following trauma. Mechanism of injury was typically road traffic accident (77.4%). Sixteen patients underwent a non‐therapeutic laparotomy. Following peer‐review, different management was recommended for only three patients. Conclusion This group of patients who died in the setting of a trauma laparotomy received high quality trauma care. Ongoing education is needed as some non‐therapeutic laparotomies may be avoidable.