title: Survival after prehospital advanced life support in severe trauma.
abstract: The aim of this study was to assess the influence of prehospital advanced life support (PALS) on the survival of victims of severe trauma in our hospital. During a period of 24 months, 46 patients with severe trauma were admitted to our Emergency Department after receiving PALS; this included endotracheal intubation and ventilatory support (IVS) in 35 cases, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in 11. The severity of the trauma in this group of patients was confirmed by assessing the clinical condition on admission and the Glasgow Coma Scale score (mean = 4.0, median = 3), the Revised Trauma score (mean = 4.1, median = 4) and the Injury Severity Score (mean = 44.5 and median = 41 in blunt trauma; mean = 58.3 and median = 75 in penetrating trauma). The overall survival was 41%. The survival rate was 48% in patients with prehospital IVS rate and 18% in those receiving CPR. We conclude that PALS in severe trauma was able to save the lives of many patients at high risk of dying before reaching hospital.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Quintans-Rodríquez
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Turégano-Fuentes
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hernández-Granados
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Pérez-Díaz
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Fuenmayor-Valera
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fernández-Moreira
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008020:Life Support Care / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009104:Multiple Trauma / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy*; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D015996:Survival Rate