[The Institute of Surgery in Novi Sad as a trauma center--10 years' experience]

Trauma is a surgical disease and a leading cause of death in the population in the age of forties. The Institute for Surgery in Novi Sad (trauma center of the first rank) takes care of all injured people brought to the Institute either directly from the place of accident or from other centers.

Retrospective analysis of the injured people treated at the Institute for Surgery in the period 1987-1996.

Multivariate analysis of the traumas from the register of the Institute for Surgery according to the trauma system elements: number of injured individuals, sex and age structure, categorization of injuries, etiology of injuries, distribution of serious injuries by regions, results obtained from the treatment of serious injuries.

They show a global representation of all elements involved with injured people: due to moderately serious, serious and critically serious injuries 21.6% of patients were hospitalized; in the age of 29-30 years men with traumas caused on work or in traffic were predominant, while women with injuries caused by falling were predominant in the age of 60-69 years; drastically increased injuries caused by fire-arms in the period 1991-1993 were directly caused by the state of war and these injuries are still numerous; in case of hospitalized patients isolated trauma (80%) was predominant, multiple trauma was under 20% and polytrauma was registered in 5% of patients; after surgical treatment of injuries approximately 17% of patients were indicated for postoperative prolonged treatment and in intensive care unit at the Institute for Surgery; the average mortality of hospitalized patients was 5-7% but with extremely high mortality rate (< 70%) in the group of patients with polytraumas.