title: The use of emergency department thoracotomy for traumatic cardiopulmonary arrest.
abstract: Despite the establishment of evidence-based guidelines for the resuscitation of critically injured patients who have sustained cardiopulmonary arrest, rapid decisions regarding patient salvageability in these situations remain difficult even for experienced physicians. Regardless, survival is limited after traumatic cardiopulmonary arrest. One applicable, well-described resuscitative technique is the emergency department thoracotomy-a procedure that, when applied correctly, is effective in saving small but significant numbers of critically injured patients. By understanding the indications, technical details, and predictors of survival along with the inherent risks and costs of emergency department thoracotomy, the physician is better equipped to make rapid futile versus salvageable decisions for this most severely injured subset of patients.
authors.affiliation: Division of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care, Department of Surgery, Cooper University Hospital, Camden, NJ 08103 , USA. Seamon-mark@cooperhealth.edu
authors.forename: Mark J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Seamon
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chovanes
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Manis
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tsiotsias
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Warta
authors.forename: Steven E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Ross
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D005260:Female; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D013908:Thoracotomy / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014949:Wounds, Nonpenetrating / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D055815:Young Adult