Elsevier

Injury

Volume 46, Issue 5, May 2015, Pages 822-826
Injury

Massive transfusion prediction with inclusion of the pre-hospital Shock Index

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.injury.2014.12.009Get rights and content

Abstract

Background

Detecting occult bleeding can be challenging and may delay resuscitation. The Shock Index (SI) defined as heart rate divided by systolic blood pressure has attracted attention. Prediction models using combinations of pre-hospital SI (phSI) and the trauma centre SI (tcSI) values may be effective in identifying patients requiring massive blood transfusions (MT).

Aim

To explore whether combinations of the phSI and the tcSI augment MT prediction.

Methods

The scores were retrospectively developed using all major trauma patients that presented to The Alfred Hospital between 2006 and 2012. The first PH and TC observations were used. To avoid exclusion of the ‘sickest’ patients, the SI was imputed to 2 where SBP was missing, but HR was present. We developed 4 models. (i) ‘Dichotomised’, defined as positive when both phSI and tcSI were ≥1. (ii) ‘Formulaic’, defined by logistic regression analysis. (iii) ‘Combination’, defined pragmatically based on the logistic regression. (iv) ‘Trending’, defined as: tcSI minus phSI.

Results

There were 6990 major trauma patients and 360 (5.2%) received MT. There were 1371 cases with either phSI or tcSI missing and were thus excluded from the analysis. The ‘Dichotomised’ had higher positive predictive value than the tcSI with a further 5 per 100 patients identified. The ‘Formulaic’ model, defined as: log Odds (MT) = 2.16 × tcSI + 0.89 × phSI  5.42, and the ‘Combination’ model, defined as: phSI × 0.5 + tcSI, performed equally (AUROC 0.83 versus 0.83, χ2 = 0.86, p = 0.35). The ‘Formulaic’ performed marginally, but statistically significantly, more accurate than the tcSI alone (AUROC 0.83 versus 0.82, χ2 = 6.89, p < 0.01). An ‘Upward Trending’ SI was observed in 1758 patients, revealing a 4.6-fold univariate association with MT (OR 4.55; 95%CI 2.64–7.83), and an AUROC of 0.79 (95%CI 0.74–0.83). The ‘Downward Trending’ SI was protective against MT (OR 0.44; 95%CI 0.34–0.57).

Conclusion

The initial pre-hospital SI is associated with MT. However, this relationship did not clinically augment MT decision when combined with the in-hospital SI. The simplicity of the SI makes it a favourable option to explore further. Computer-assisted technology in data capturing, analysis and prognostication presents avenues for further research.

Section snippets

Background

Haemorrhagic shock (HS) is responsible for a third of all trauma deaths [1]. Timely diagnosis is therefore crucial, but remains challenging [2]. Diagnosis of HS relies primarily on the clinician's gestalt as traditional vital signs are commonly insufficient to diagnose HS [3]. The time-critical nature of the initial trauma resuscitation has necessitated reliance on single time-point measurements – rather than trends – that may add to delays in diagnosis and treatment of HS [4].

A key component

Setting

The state of Victoria in Australia has three Major Trauma Services (MTS) within metropolitan Melbourne, of which The Alfred Hospital is the largest. In 2008 a massive transfusion protocol (MTP) was introduced. This guideline recommended a 2:1 units ratio of Red Blood Cells (RBC) to Fresh Frozen Plasma (FFP), and 4:1 units of RBCs and leucocyte depleted platelets. Each unit of RBC has an average volume of 260 (SD 19) mL, each unit of FFP has an average volume of 280 (14) mL, and each unit of

Results

There were 6990 major trauma patients and 360 (5.2%) received MT. The mean age of the total cohort was 47.4 (21.9) years. The median ISS was 24 (17–29), and the overall mortality at hospital discharge was 9.7%. Blunt mechanism of injury was commonest (93.8%), whilst penetrating mechanisms only accounted for 2.5%. The remaining injuries comprised burns and ‘unknown’. Demographics, initial vital signs and initial pathology results are presented in Table 2.

The phSI was available in 5694 cases, of

Discussion

This study demonstrated statistically significant improvements in prediction of MT by incorporating pre-hospital SI. The ‘Combination’ SI, defined as: 0.5 × phSI + tcSI, was only marginally more accurate than tcSI alone, thus of limited clinical significance. Regardless of in-hospital values, this study demonstrated an association between phSI and subsequent in-hospital MT and highlights the potential utility of early, pre-hospital variables to predict MT.

Improved prediction of haemorrhage

Conclusion

The initial pre-hospital SI is associated with in-hospital massive transfusion. However, pre-hospital objective measures of haemorrhagic shock did not clinically augment massive transfusion decision when combined with in-hospital values. The simplicity and absence of pathology, radiology or other resources make the SI a favourable option to explore further. Adding further time points and continuing real-time computer assisted predictive models throughout the patient's journey may improve

Conflict of interest

None.

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