Tourniquets, vascular shunts, and endovascular technologies: esoteric or essential? A report from the 2011 AAST Military Liaison Panel.

A part of the 2011 American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) meeting in Chicago, the Military Liaison Committee led an interactive, case-based debate of vascular trauma and hemorrhage control entitled Tourniquets, Vascular Shunts and Endovascular Technologies: Esoteric or Essential? During the panel session, use of a real-time audience response system resulted in a sensing session duringwhich opinions and practice patterns related to these topics were tabulated. The purpose of this report is to provide the results from the audience response system gathered during this session as well as select peer-reviewed publications cited during the presentation of each scenario. In addition, the objective of this summary is to provide a perspective as to whether these surgical adjuncts or techniques are esoteric or essential in contemporary trauma practice.