CPS can be readily determined in the era of medication reconciliation. Trauma patients with CPS of 15 or greater are at greater risk of poor clinical outcomes. CPS constitutes a useful adjunct to currently available injury severity scoring tools as a predictor of morbidity, mortality, hospital resource utilization, and postdischarge disposition in older trauma patients.

Although traumatic pneumocephalus is not uncommon, it rarely evolves into tension pneumocephalus (TP). Characterized by the presence of increasing amounts of intracranial air and concurrent appearance or worsening neurological symptoms, TP can be devastating if not recognized and treated promptly. We present two cases of traumatic TP and a concise review of literature on this topic. Two cases of traumatic TP are presented. In addition, a literature search revealed 20 additional cases, of which 18 had sufficient information for inclusion. Literature cases were combined with the 2 reported cases and analyzed for demographics, mechanism of injury, symptoms, time to presentation (acute <72 h; delayed >72 h), diagnostic/treatment modalities, and outcomes. Twenty cases were analyzed (17 males, 3 females, median age 26, range 8–92 years). Presentation was acute in 13/20 and delayed in 7/20 patients. Injury mechanisms included motor vehicle collisions (6/20), assault/blunt trauma to the craniofacial area (5), falls (4), and motorcycle/ bicycle crashes (3). Common presentations included depressed mental status (10/20), cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea (9), headache (8), and loss of consciousness (6). Computed tomography (CT) was utilized in 19/20 patients. Common underlying injuries were frontal bone/sinus fracture (9/20) and ethmoid fracture (5). Intracranial hemorrhage was seen in 5/20 patients and brain contusions in 4/20 patients. Nonoperative management was utilized in 6/20 patients. Procedural approaches included craniotomy (11/20), emergency burr hole (4), endoscopy (2), and ventriculostomy (2). Most patients responded to initial treatment (19/20). One early and one delayed death were reported. Traumatic TP is rare, tends to be associated with severe craniofacial injuries, and can occur following both blunt and penetrating injury. Early recognition and high index of clinical suspicion are important. Appropriate treatment results in improvement in vast majority of cases. CT scan is the diagnostic modality of choice for TP.Republished with permission from:Pillai P, Sharma R, MacKenzie L, Reilly EF, Beery II PR, Papadimos TJ, Stawicki SPA. Traumatic tension pneumocephalus: Two cases and comprehensive review of literature. OPUS 12 Scientist 2010;4(1):6-11.

OBJECTIVE Post-emergency department (ED) triage of older trauma patients continues to be challenging as morbidity and mortality for any given level of injury severity tend to increase with age. The Comorbidity-Polypharmacy Score (CPS) combines the number of pre-injury medications with the number of comorbidities to estimate the severity of co-morbid conditions. This retrospective study examines the relationship between CPS and triage accuracy for older (≥45 years) patients admitted for traumatic injury. METHODS Patients ≥ 45 years old presenting to level 1 trauma center from 2005 to 2008 were included. Basic data included patient demographics, injury severity score (ISS), morbidity/mortality, and functional outcome measures. CPS was calculated by adding total numbers of co-morbid conditions and pre-injury medications. Patients were divided into 3 triage groups: undertriage, appropriate triage, and over-triage. Under-triage criteria included initial admission to the floor or step-down unit followed by an unplanned transfer to ICU within 24 hours of admission. Over-triage was defined as initial ICU admission for <1 day without stated need for ICU level of care (i.e., lack of evidence for tracheal intubation/mechanical ventilation, injury-related hemorrhage, or other traditional ICU indications such as intracranial bleeding). All other patients were presumed to be correctly triaged. The three triage groups were then analyzed looking for contributors to mis-triage. RESULTS Charts for 711 patients were evaluated (mean age 63.5, 55.7% male, mean ISS 9.02). Of those, 11 (1.55%) met criteria for “under-triage” and 14 (1.97%) were “over-triaged”. The remaining 686 patients had no evidence of mis-triage. The three groups were similar in terms of injury severity and age. The groups were significantly different with respect to CPS, with undertriage CPS scores (14.9±6.80) being nearly three times higher than the overtriage CPS scores (5.14±3.48). There were more similarities between appropriate and overtriage groups, with the undertriage group being characterized by greater number of complications, and lower functional outcomes at discharge (all, p<0.05). The undertriage group had significantly higher mortality (27%) than the appropriate and over-triage groups (6% and 0%, respectively). CONCLUSION In the era of medication reconciliation, the CPS is easy to obtain and calculate in patients who are not critically injured. This study suggests that CPS may be a promising adjunct in identifying older trauma patients who are more likely to be under-triaged. The significance of our findings is especially important when considering that injury severity in the undertiage group was similar to injury severity in the other groups. Further evaluation of CPS as a triage tool in acute trauma is warranted.