Search

Study Objective: Enoxaparin is standard of care for venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis in adult trauma patients, but fixed‐dose protocols are suboptimal. Dosing based on body mass index (BMI) or total body weight (TBW) improves target prophylactic anti‐Xa level attainment and reduces VTE rates. A novel strategy using estimated blood volume (EBV) may be more effective based on results of a single‐center study. This study compared BMI‐, TBW‐, EBV‐based, and hybrid enoxaparin dosing strategies at achieving target prophylactic anti‐Factor Xa (anti‐Xa) levels in trauma patients. Design: Multicenter, retrospective review. Data Source: Electronic health records from participating institutions. Patients: Adult trauma patients who received enoxaparin twice daily for VTE prophylaxis and had at least one appropriately timed anti‐Xa level (collected 3 to 6 hours after the previous dose after three consecutive doses) from January 2017 through December 2020. Patients were excluded if the hospital‐specific dosing protocol was not followed or if they had thermal burns with > 20% body surface area involvement. Intervention: Dosing strategy used to determine initial prophylactic dose of enoxaparin. Measurements: The primary end point was percentage of patients with peak anti‐Xa levels within the target prophylactic range (0.2‐0.4 units/mL). Main Results: Nine hospitals enrolled 742 unique patients. The most common dosing strategy was based on BMI (43.0%), followed by EBV (29.0%). Patients dosed using EBV had the highest percentage of target anti‐Xa levels (72.1%). Multiple logistic regression demonstrated EBV‐based dosing was significantly more likely to yield anti‐Xa levels at or above target compared to BMI‐based dosing (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 3.59, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.29‐5.62, p < 0.001). EBV‐based dosing was also more likely than hybrid dosing to yield an anti‐Xa level at or above target (aOR 2.30, 95% CI 1.33‐3.98, p = 0.003). Other pairwise comparisons between dosing strategy groups were nonsignificant. Conclusions: An EBV‐based dosing strategy was associated with higher odds of achieving anti‐Xa level within target range for enoxaparin VTE prophylaxis compared to BMI‐based dosing and may be a preferred method for VTE prophylaxis in adult trauma patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a body mass index (BMI)‐based enoxaparin prophylaxis dosing protocol at achieving target anti‐factor Xa (anti‐Xa) concentrations in the trauma population. Methods: This retrospective chart review evaluated anti‐Xa concentrations in adult trauma patients who received prophylactic enoxaparin over a three‐month period. The primary outcome was the percentage of patients that achieved target anti‐Xa concentrations after ≥3 doses of enoxaparin. Secondary outcomes included correlations of anti‐Xa concentrations with enoxaparin dose per BMI, total body weight (TBW), and estimated blood volume (EBV). The prevalence of clinically relevant bleeding and venous thromboembolism was also recorded. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify associated variables for target anti‐Xa concentration attainment. Results: Ninety‐nine consecutive patients were included in the study. Included patients were predominately male (69.7%) and Black (50.5%) with a mean age of 44.1 years. Target anti‐Xa concentrations were achieved in 62.6% of patients. Anti‐Xa concentrations were moderately correlated with enoxaparin dose per EBV (ρ = 0.57), followed by dose per TBW (ρ = 0.46), and dose per BMI (ρ = 0.20). Multivariable logistic regression demonstrated that categorization of enoxaparin dose per EBV and per TBW were the only statistically significant predictors of reaching target anti‐Xa concentrations (p = <0.001). Conclusions: In adult trauma patients, the rate of achieving target anti‐Xa concentrations remains suboptimal and provides room for further improvement. Enoxaparin dose per EBV was more closely correlated with anti‐Xa concentrations when compared to TBW and BMI. Dosing per EBV and TBW was the only variables associated with reaching target anti‐Xa concentrations within the study. Further investigation is warranted to elucidate optimal EBV‐ and TBW‐based dosing regimens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Older age is a well-established risk factor for withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy (WDLST) and discharge to hospice (DH) in traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, a paucity of data exists in identifying factors associated with end-of-life (EoL) care in younger patients with TBI. We sought to identify hospital and patient factors associated with EoL care and timing of EoL care in younger adults with severe TBI. This is a retrospective analysis of the National Trauma Databank (2019). Adults (18-65 y) with severe TBI (Glasgow coma scale <9) were included in the analysis. Inclusion criteria included death, WDLST, or DH during the hospital stay. Exclusion criteria included Glasgow coma scale >8, death in the emergency department, and missing WDLST status. The primary outcome was EoL Care defined as those who either underwent WDLST or DH. The secondary outcome was early EoL care defined as EoL care within 72 h of admission. A total of 1239 patients were included in the study, the median age was 43 y, and the majority were males (77%) and of white race (68%). A total of 667 (54%) patients underwent EoL Care. On multivariable analysis, increasing age (adjusted odd's ratio [aOR]: 1.02; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01-1.03) and chronic alcoholism (aOR: 1.78; 95% CI: 1.05-3.03) were independently associated with EoL. Conversely, patients of Black race (aOR: 0.33; 95% CI: 0.22-0.49) and those admitted to university hospitals (odd's ratio 0.51 95% CI 0.33-0.74) and level II trauma centers (odd's ratio 0.57; 95% CI 0.37-0.88) were less likely to undergo EoL care. A total of 225 (34%) patients underwent early EoL Care. On multivariable analysis, presence of nonreactive pupils and absence of intracranial pressure monitor were independently associated with early EoL care. Significant variation in EoL care exists in patients presenting with severe TBI. Better understanding of patient and hospital factors that influence these complex decisions may allow for targeted interventions to reduce variability in EoL practice in TBI across institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cooccurrence of a traumatic hemothorax (HTX) and pneumothorax (PTX) is extremely common (70%). Prior work shows the safety of observing small HTX (≤300 cubic centimeters) and PTX (≤35 mm) in isolation. Accordingly, we sought to assess the safety of observation of concurrent small hemopneumothorax(HPTX). We conducted a single-center retrospective study from 2015 to 2021 at a level I trauma center. Patients with a computed tomography (CT) scan confirmed that HPTXwas included in the study. Exclusion criteria included tube thoracostomy (TT) prior to CT scan, TT placement for rib fixation, PTX>35 mm, HTX>300 cubic centimeters, and death within 72 h of admission. The study group was stratified into either initial observation or early TT, which is defined as TT placement immediately after initial CT scan. Primary outcome was observation failure. A total of 353 patients met the inclusion criteria, of whom 261 (74%) were initially observed. The initial observation cohort had a lower pulmonary morbidity rate (9% versus 14%; P = 0.04) and a shorter hospital (7 versus 10 d, P < 0.001) and intensive care unit (2 versus 4 d, P = 0.01) length of stay (LOS) when compared to those with initial TT placement. Sixty-eight (26%) patients failed observation, with a worsening HTXon repeat imaging (45%) being the most common reason. Compared to those who received an early TT, those who failed observation had a similar pulmonary morbidity and need for video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, TT duration, LOS, readmission, and mortality rates. Initial observation of concurrent small traumatic HPTX had a lower pulmonary morbidity and LOS but was found to have a clinically significant failure rate. Patients who failed observation had similar outcomes to those who received an early TT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]