Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 1, 2025
Assessing Changes in Synaptic Plasticity Using an Awake Closed-Head Injury Model of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
Published on: January 20, 2023
Trauma and nontrauma damage-control laparotomy: The difference is delirium (data from the Eastern Association for the
Kaitlin McArthur1, Cassandra Krause, Eugenia Kwon
1From the Division of Acute Care Surgery (K. McArthur), Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Loma Linda, California; Division of Acute Care Surgery (C.K., E.K., X.L.-O., M.C.-Y., S.B., D.T., K. Mukherjee), Loma Linda University Medical Center, Loma Linda, California; Division of Trauma, Burns, Critical Care, and Acute Care Surgery (L.S., C.K., A.G., J. Nahmias), UC Irvine Medical Center, Irvine, California; Division of Trauma and Critical Care (A.B., A.G.), LAC+USC Medical Center, Los Angeles, California; Grant Medical Center Trauma Services (A.L., M.K.), Ohio Health Grant Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio; Division of Trauma/Surgical Critical Care (M.N.F., N.G.), Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey; Division of Trauma (S.T., E.L.), Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California; Division of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care (S.R.L., O.D.G.), Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessey; Division of Trauma/Acute Care Surgery/Critical Care (J.M.B., C.D.), West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia; Division of Trauma (S.M.W., K.L.), Cooper University Health System, Camden, New Jersey; Section of Acute Care Surgery (N.T.D., J. Nunez), University of Utah Medical Center, Salt Lake City, Utah; Division of Trauma and Critical Care Surgery (S.M., J.P.), Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, Illinois; Division of Trauma, Emergency Surgery and Surgical Critical Care (L.N., H. Kaafarani), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Trauma Center (H. Kemmer, M.J.L.), Research Medical Center-Kansas City Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri; Mount Sinai Hospital-Chicago (A.D., G.C.), Chicago, Illinois; and Trauma and Acute Care Center (Z.N.), Morristown Medical Center, Morristown, New Jersey.
Background:
Damage-control laparotomy (DCL) has been used for traumatic and nontraumatic indications. We studied factors associated with delirium and outcome in this population.
Methods:
We reviewed DCL patients at 15 centers for 2 years, including demographics, Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), diagnosis, operations, and outcomes. We compared 30-day mortality; renal failure requiring dialysis; number of takebacks; hospital, ventilator, and intensive care unit (ICU) days; and delirium-free and coma-free proportion of the first 30 ICU days (DF/CF-ICU-30) between trauma (T) and nontrauma (NT) patients. We performed linear regression for DF/CF-ICU-30, including age, sex, CCI, achievement of primary fascial closure (PFC), small and large bowel resection, bowel discontinuity, abdominal vascular procedures, and trauma as covariates. We performed one-way analysis of variance for DF/CF-ICU-30 against traumatic brain injury severity as measured by Abbreviated Injury Scale for the head.
Results:
Among 554 DCL patients (25.8% NT), NT patients were older (58.9 ± 15.8 vs. 39.7 ± 17.0 years, p < 0.001), more female (45.5% vs. 22.1%, p < 0.001), and had higher CCI (4.7 ± 3.3 vs. 1.1 ± 2.2, p < 0.001). The number of takebacks (1.7 ± 2.6 vs. 1.5 ± 1.2), time to first takeback (32.0 hours), duration of bowel discontinuity (47.0 hours), and time to PFC were similar (63.2 hours, achieved in 73.5%). Nontrauma and T patients had similar ventilator, ICU, and hospital days and mortality (31.0% NT, 29.8% T). Nontrauma patients had higher rates of renal failure requiring dialysis (36.6% vs. 14.1%, p < 0.001) and postoperative abdominal sepsis (40.1% vs. 17.1%, p < 0.001). Trauma and NT patients had similar number of hours of sedative (89.9 vs. 65.5 hours, p = 0.064) and opioid infusions (106.9 vs. 96.7 hours, p = 0.514), but T had lower DF/CF-ICU-30 (51.1% vs. 73.7%, p = 0.029), indicating more delirium. Linear regression analysis indicated that T was associated with a 32.1% decrease (95% CI, 14.6%-49.5%; p < 0.001) in DF/CF-ICU-30, while achieving PFC was associated with a 25.1% increase (95% CI, 10.2%-40.1%; p = 0.001) in DF/CFICU-30. Increasing Abbreviated Injury Scale for the head was associated with decreased DF/CF-ICU-30 by analysis of variance (p < 0.001).
Conclusion:
Nontrauma patients had higher incidence of postoperative abdominal sepsis and need for dialysis, while T was independently associated with increased delirium, perhaps because of traumatic brain injury.
Level Of Evidence:
Therapeutic study, level IV.
