Die reife Two- und Triplane-Fraktur

Physiologic closure of the growth plate of the distal tibia occurs between the ages of 12 and 14 years in girls and 1 year later in boys. The closure of the tibial physis starts eccentrically at the ventrolateral zone of the medial malleolus extending dorsally and ends laterally. Therefore, the anterolateral zone is the last to ossify. The process of closure lasts about 18 months. During this period the growth plate loses its joint-protective function and transitional fractures may occur. The more the closure progresses the more lateral the location of the fracture. In addition to the typical transitional fractures, typical fracture patterns of adults in the ossified physis are possible due to a mature bone structure. We report two cases of transitional fractures combined with typical fracture patterns of adults due to a dorsomedial ossified physis in the distal tibia.     

Präklinische Einschätzung der Verletzungsschwere bei Kindern

Background

The prognosis of polytraumatized patients is dependent on the quality of emergency room (ER) management and a smooth transition from prehospital to ER therapy is essential. The accurate assessment of prehospital injury severity by emergency physicians influences prehospital therapy and level of care of the destination hospital. It also helps to ensure that medical resources are immediately available. Overestimation of injury severity wastes resources and underestimation puts patients at risk. The assessment of prehospital injury severity in adults is unreliable. In children, the assessment of injury severity seems to be even more challenging.

Materials and methods

For the comparison of the prehospital documented injury severity and injury severity diagnosed after the ER phase, the injury severity score (ISS) and trauma-ISS (TRISS) were calculated. The TRISS consists of the ISS and the revised trauma score (RTS). All diagnoses of the prehospital and admission charts were collected and an injury severity was allocated according to the abbreviated injury scale (AIS). The concordance of the injury severity within different tolerances was evaluated. A tolerance of the prehospital documented injury severity of more than ±?25?% to the injury severity calculated after ER diagnostics was considered as overestimation or underestimation. The concordance of the prehospital documented diagnosed injury severity and the severity diagnosed after the ER phase of different body regions according to the AIS was evaluated. The documented mechanism of injury in the emergency physician protocol was judged as being detailed, satisfactory or poor.

Results

The results showed that 69?% of the children reached the ER during on-call hours. Furthermore 92?% of the children reached the ER during the daytime between 08.00 h and 20.00 h. The transportation of 25?% of the children was on a private basis. The mean ER-ISS was 10 points (range 1–57). In 42?% of cases the ISS of the emergency physician protocol within a tolerance of ±?25?% was concordant with the ER-ISS. According to this criterion in 38?% of cases an overestimation of the assessment of the injury severity of the emergency physician was found and in 20?% an underestimation. Within a tolerance of ±?75?% based on the ER-ISS, the ISS of the emergency physician protocol was concordant in more than half of the cases (52?%). Using the TRISS with a tolerance of ±?25?% a concordance was observed in 46?% of the cases. Within a tolerance of ±?50?% based on the ER-ISS the ISS calculated after ER diagnostics was concordant in 50?% of the cases. A high concordance of the prehospital and hospital injury severity was found in the region of the face (75?%). The concordance in the body regions of the head, thorax, extremities and pelvis and soft tissue ranged between 43 % and 50?% of the cases. Of the children 38?% suffered a traffic accident, 52?% a fall of less than 3 m and 10?% of more than 3 m. The mechanism of injury was documented in detail in 70?% and satisfactory in 8?%.

Conclusions

The assessment of prehospital injury severity in children is unreliable. In order to evaluate injury severity the use of anatomical trauma scores alone is insufficient. The adequate documentation of the mechanism of injury implies that the mechanism of injury seems to play a relevant role in the assessment of prehospital injury severity. The unreliable assessment of the injury severity, the arrival in the ER in on-call hours and the private transport to the hospital is a challenge to the ER leader in trauma life support for children.     

Measurement of erythrocyte C4d and complement receptor 1 in systemic lupus erythematosus

OBJECTIVE: C4-derived activation fragments are the only complement ligands present on the surfaces of normal erythrocytes. The significance of this observation is unknown, and the role of erythrocyte-bound C4 (E-C4) in human disease has not been explored. More than any other human disease, the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has been characterized by defects in clearance of complement-bearing immune complexes via erythrocytes expressing complement receptor 1 (CR1). This study was undertaken to determine whether these functional defects might be reflected by abnormal patterns of E-C4 and E-CR1 expression on erythrocytes of patients with SLE. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 100 patients with SLE, 133 patients with other diseases, and 84 healthy controls. Erythrocytes were characterized by indirect immunofluorescence and by flow cytometry for determination of levels of C4d and CR1. RESULTS: Patients with SLE had higher levels of E-C4d and lower levels of E-CR1 than did patients with other diseases (P < or = 0.001) or healthy controls (P < or = 0.001). The test was 81% sensitive and 91% specific for SLE versus healthy controls and 72% sensitive and 79% specific for SLE versus other diseases, and it had an overall negative predictive value of 92%. CONCLUSION: This is the first report of abnormal levels of E-C4d in human disease. We found that abnormally high levels of E-C4d and low levels of E-CR1 are characteristic of SLE, and combined measurement of the 2 molecules has high diagnostic sensitivity and specificity for lupus. Determination of E-C4d/E-CR1 levels may be a useful addition to current tests and criteria for SLE diagnosis.     

Behandlungsdauer orthopädisch-unfallchirurgischer Patienten in der Notaufnahme

Introduction

The majority of emergency patients are admitted to hospital via the emergency department. Overcrowding in emergency departments results in dissatisfied patients, increased complication rates, and negative medicoeconomic consequences. To overcome these problems, sufficient personnel strength should be available depending on treatment duration and the patients’ characteristics.

Materials and methods

First, trauma and orthopedic patients were classified into six categories: ABT (history, findings, and therapy), RABT (X-ray and ABT), WABT (wound care and ABT), WRABT (wound care and RABT), STAT (hospital admission), and SR (trauma life support). Furthermore, the duration of medical treatment was correlated with the physicians’ educational level (specialist or physician in training after or during the common trunk period). Not included were waiting periods and nursing care measures. After analyzing the frequency of each category, the mean duration of treatment for an“average patient” was determined.

Results

The duration of treatment of 900 patients was recorded. The average times were 9.5 min (ABT), 13.8 min (RABT), 17.3 min (WABT), 24.5 min (WRABT), 38.4 min (STAT), and 84.2 min (SR). The frequencies for the different categories were: ABT 18.8%; RABT 50.2?%; WABT 14.5?%; WRABT 4.4?%; STAT 10.6?%, and SR 1.4?%. Thus, an average duration of medical treatment of 17.6 min was calculated. Especially in the RABT category, significant differences between specialists and physicians in training were evident. In children and adolescents, the duration of treatment was 12.5 min.

Conclusion

The duration of treatment of an average trauma and orthopedic patient depends on the level of care of the hospital and the qualification of the physician in charge. In order to avoid negative consequences of overcrowding in emergency departments, adequate personnel strength is essential. Personnel strength should be calculated based on the average duration of medical treatment of about 18 min.