Duration and predictors of emergency surgical operations - basis for medical management of mass casualty incidents

BACKGROUND Hospitals have a critically important role in the management of mass causality incidents (MCI), yet there is little information to assist emergency planners. A significantly limiting factor of a hospital's capability to treat those affected is its surgical capacity. We therefore intended to provide data about the duration and predictors of life saving operations. METHODS The data of 20,815 predominantly blunt trauma patients recorded in the Trauma Registry of the German-Trauma-Society was retrospectively analyzed to calculate the duration of life-saving operations as well as their predictors. Inclusion criteria were an ISS≥16 and the performance of relevant ICPM-coded procedures within 6h of admission. RESULTS From 1,228 patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria 1,793 operations could be identified as life-saving operations. Acute injuries to the abdomen accounted for 54.1% followed by head injuries (26.3%), pelvic injuries (11.5%), thoracic injuries (5.0%) and major amputations (3.1%). The mean cut to suture time was 130min (IQR 65-165min). Logistic regression revealed 8 variables associated with an emergency operation: AIS of abdomen ≥3 (OR 4,00), ISS ≥35 (OR 2,94), hemoglobin level ≤8 mg/dL (OR 1,40), pulse rate on hospital admission <40 or >120/min (OR 1,39), blood pressure on hospital admission <90 mmHg (OR 1,35), prehospital infusion volume ≥2000 ml (OR 1,34), GCS ≤8 (OR 1,32) and anisocoria (OR 1,28) on-scene. CONCLUSIONS The mean operation time of 130min calculated for emergency life-saving surgical operations provides a realistic guideline for the prospective treatment capacity which can be estimated and projected into an actual incident admission capacity. Knowledge of predictive factors for life-saving emergency operations helps to identify those patients that need most urgent operative treatment in case of blunt MCI.