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Objectives It was the aim of the study to analyse the prevalence of maxillofacial trauma (MFT) in severely injured patients after road traffic accidence (RTA) and to investigate associated factors. Materials and methods In a retrospective study, data from patients after RTA by the TraumaRegister DGU® from 1993 to 2014 were evaluated for demographical and injury characteristics. The predictor variable was mechanism of injury and the outcome variables were type of injury, severity and hospital resources utilization. Results During the investigation period, n = 62,196 patients were enclosed with a prevalence of maxillofacial injuries of 20.3% (MFT positive). The injury severity score of MFT-positive patients was higher than in the MTF-negative subgroup (27 ± 12.8 vs. 23.0 ± 12.7). If MFT positive, 39.8% show minor, 37.1% moderate, 21.5% serious and 1.6% severe maxillofacial injuries. Injuries of the midface occurred in 60.3% of MTF-positive patients. A relevant blood loss (> 20% of total blood volume) occurred in 1.9%. MFT-positive patients had a higher coincidence with cervical spine fractures (11.3% vs. 7.8%) and traumatic brain injuries (62.6% vs. 34.8%) than MFT-negative patients. There was a noticeable decrease in the incidence of facial injuries in car/truck drivers during the study period. Conclusions Every 5th patient after RTA shows a MFT and the whole trauma team must be aware that this indicates a high prevalence of traumatic brain and cervical spine injuries. Clinical relevance Even if sole injuries of the face are seldom life threatening, maxillofacial expertise in interdisciplinary trauma centres is strongly recommended.

The lower morbidity and mortality rate with a nearly identical long-term survival yielded by subtotal gastrectomy compared with total gastrectomy leads us to justify subtotal gastrectomy, especially in elderly patients with comorbidity and a high operative risk, on the condition that its performance is radical from an oncological point of view.

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