BACKGROUND/AIMS

We aimed to evaluate patients with thoracic trauma who were followed in intensive care unit in terms of epidemiologic, admission scoring systems, follow-up processes and prognosis.

MATERIAL and METHODS

Patients with thoracic trauma over 18 years of age who were followed up and treated in the intensive care unit between January 1, 2013 and June 1, 2018 were evaluated retrospectively. Patients were evaluated in terms of age, gender, history of trauma, Glasgow Coma Score (GCS), Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score, blood gas values, intubation requirement, mechanical ventilator requirement, length of stay, survival and factors affecting prognosis.

RESULTS

Of the 30 patients included in the study, 28 (93.3%) were male and 2 (6.7%) were female. Twenty-eight (60%) patients had blunt thorax trauma and 12 (40%) had penetrating thorax trauma. Intubation was required in 20 patients and blood transfusion was required in 10 patients. The median follow-up of the trauma patients in the intensive care unit was 120 hours and the median duration of stay in the mechanical ventilator was 84 hours. A statistically significant correlation was found between APACHE II scores and duration of mechanical ventilator stay (p=0.024) and pH and intensive care unit stay (p=0.013). When the patients were evaluated in terms of survival, there was a statistically significant relationship between GCS and APACHE II scores and survival (p=0.001).

CONCLUSION

GCS and APACHE II scoring systems play an important role in predicting mortality in patients admitted to intensive care unit due to trauma.

Keywords: Intensive care unit, mortality, thorax, trauma