Tehran University Medical Journal

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In this survey, 600 autopsy files from Legal Medicine Center were reviewed to find out the cause of death in traumatic patients. The results are presented by age, gender, type of trauma and cause of death. The most common type of trauma is vehicle accidents and 70% of subjects are males. Trauma resulting in death is most common ing third decade of life

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An appropriate approach to surgical patients in emergency situations needs meticulous consideration, especially those with incarcerated inguinal hernias, since delay or inappropriate treatment may lead to severe complications or even death. According to this fact, medical records of patients with incarcerated inguinal hernias referred to emergency department of Sina hospital were surveyed during a 40 year period by a retrospective study. Routine criteria indicating strangulation in incarcerated inguinal hernia were compared between a group of patients with intestinal necrosis and those without this complication. Among 87 patients with relatively complete records which were all operated (immediately or with some delay), 13 patients had intestinal necrosis for whom intestinal resection was performed. The comparison between the gangrenous group and those without grangrene according to the mean interval between the onset of symptoms and hospitalization, body temperature, pulse rate and WBC count, was performed by student t-test, but no significant difference was found. Considering the safety of surgery especially for anterior herniorrhaphy which ia familiar to all surgery residents, the authors suggest immediate operation through ant. approach for incarcerated inguinal hernias

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Different aspects of the effect of trauma on the health status of populations have been studied annually 35 millions deaths, 3.5 millions disabilities and a sum of 500 billions $ cost. Evaluating different modes of prevention, a comprehensive study was carried out in the US during the 7th and 8th decades, introducing the TRISS method for the purpose of comparing the outcomes of trauma cases among multiple centers. This study has been carried out during 1996-97 in there hospitals of Tehran. After entering the hospital, all trauma cases were traced by trained interviewers until leaving the hospital. Based on the TRISS model, probability of survival was calculated for each patient and compared with the results of the MTOS study. Among 4863 cases evaluated, 300 (6.2%) deaths were observed, which is significantly more than the expected number (222 deaths, 2.7%) calculated under TRISS model. This difference may indicate a difference in the quality of trauma care.

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This article is to verify mortality rate, cause of death, severity of injury (ISS),GCS, patient fate in hospital, pattern of specific organ injuries and some other characteristics among injured pedestrians and car occupants referred to three trauma centers in Tehran (Sina hospital, Shohada Tajrich hospital, Fayazbakhsh hospital) from May 1996 until May 1997.
Materials and Methods: 57367 patients were admitted to emergency department of these centers among which, 6027 victims of motor-vehicle accidents were included in this study.
Results: 71% of cases were pedestrians and rest was car occupants. M/F ratio was 1.8/5. Mean age was 29y. Motor vehicle accidents occurred most commonly during nights. The patients' GCS at arrival in emergency department had similar distribution in both groups. The most commonly injured organs in both groups were: integument, head and neck, extremities and bony pelvis. Thoracic and spinal injuries were more common among car occupants. Extremities and boney pelvis injuries were more common among pedestrians. The mortality rate was the same between both groups. Mortality rate was affected by GCS at arrival and severity of injury. Mortality rate among the old was 4 times the rate among the children. The accidents most commonly occurred on metropolitan roads and streets. The most common cause of death between both groups was head injury. Surprisingly head injury was a more common cause of death among the car occupants.
Conclusion: Pattern of specific organ injuries was different form the pattern in previous studies as the pattern was virtually the same between both groups except for spinal and thoracic injuries were more common among the car occupants.

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Background: Drug abuse has been known as a growing contributing factor to all types of trauma in the world. The goal of this article is to provide insight into demographic and substance use factors associated with trauma and to determine the prevalence of drug abuse in trauma patients.
Methods: Evidence of substance abuse was assessed in trauma patients presenting to Sina trauma hospital over a 3-month period. They were interviewed and provided urine samples to detect the presence of drug/metabolites of opium, morphine, cannabis and heroin by “Morphine Check” kits. Demographic data, mechanisms of injury, history of smoking and drug abuse were recorded.
Results: A total of 358 patients with a mean age of 28.4 years were studied. The Patients were predominantly male (94.7%). There was a history of smoking in 136 cases (38%). 58 cases (16.2%) reported to abuse drugs (91.5% opium). The commonest route of administration was smoke inhalation (37.2%). Screening by Morphine Check test revealed 95 samples to be positive (26.5%). The preponderance of test-positive cases was among young people (of 20-30 years of age) with a history of smoking. Victims of violence and those with penetrating injuries also showed a higher percentage of positive screens (P=0.038 and P<0.001, respectively).
Conclusion: These results suggest that drug abuse is a contributing factor to trauma especially in violent injuries and among the young. Regarding the considerable prevalence of drug abuse among trauma patients, it’s highly recommended that all trauma patients be screened for illicit drugs