Posterior Hip Dislocation

Although posterior hip dislocation is an uncommon injury, the consequences of delayed recognition or treatment can be dire. The majority are caused by head-on car crashes, and 90% of these are posterior dislocations. The femoral head is forced across the back wall of the acetabulum, either by the knee striking the dash, or by forces moving up the leg when the knee is locked. This occurs most commonly on the right side when the driver is standing on the brake pedal, desperately trying to stop.

On exam, the patient presents with the hip flexed, internally rotated and somewhat adducted. Range of motion is limited, and increasing resistance is felt when you try to move it out of position. An AP pelvic X-ray will show the femoral head out of the socket, but it may take a lateral or Judet view to tell if it is posterior vs anterior.

These injuries need to be reduced as soon as possible to decrease the chance of avascular necrosis of the femoral head. Procedural sedation is required for all reductions, since it makes the patient much more comfortable and reduces muscle tone. The ED cart needs to be able to handle both the patient’s weight and your own. I also recommend a spotter on each side of the cart.

Standing on the cart near the patient’s feet, begin to apply traction to the femur and slowly flex the hip to about 90 degrees. Then gently adduct the thigh to help jump the femoral head over the acetabular rim. You will feel a satisfying clunk as the head drops into place. Straighten the leg and keep it adducted. If you are unsuccessful after two tries, there is probably a bony fragment keeping the head out of the socket

Regardless of success, consult your orthopedic surgeon for further instructions. And be sure to thoroughly evaluate the rest of the patient. It takes a lot of energy to cause this injury, and it is flowing through the rest of the patient, breaking other things as well.

Drug Use and Automobile Crashes

All trauma professionals are keenly aware of how often alcohol is involved in automobile crashes. Something you may not know is that one third of drug tests for other substances are positive in drivers involved in car crashes!

There has been a 5 percent increase in the number of positive drug screens in drivers over the past 4 years. The drugs range from hallucinogens to prescription pain medications. 

Seventeen states have enacted legislation making it illegal to drive while on various types of legal and illegal drugs. However, these laws are difficult to enforce because:

  • They are more difficult to detect, both by law enforcement at the scene and in the hospital
  • We don’t know a lot about the impact of these drugs on driving performance
  • A positive drug screen does not tell us when the substance was taken and if it is at a significant level

Drug screens are typically obtained in the ED in seriously injured drivers. It’s a good idea to order one in any patient with a significant head injury. This allows the clinician to guess (and it’s just a guess) that the medications may be impairing the mental status exam. Any patients who have a positive screen should have a documented chemical dependency evaluation and be provided with referral information to get further help.

Reference: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration


Helicopter Transport and Civilian Trauma

Military helicopter experience led to widespread adoption in the US for civilian trauma beginning in the 1970s. This has had the significant side effect of extending the reach of trauma centers to a significant percentage of the US population. But because of safety considerations and concerns about appropriate use, the overall benefit continues to be questioned.

Most existing studies have been small, single institution projects. Researchers at the University of Rochester designed a very large study using the National Trauma Databank. They identified over 250,000 patients transported from the injury scene, 16% of whom were transported by ‘copter, the remainder by ground. 

Patients transported by air were more severely injured and were more likely to have a severe head injury or abnormal vital signs. They also had longer hospital and ICU stays, and were more likely to require a ventilator or emergency surgery.

Despite the fact that response and scene times were longer for helicopter transports, air transport was a predictor of survival when injury severity was taken into consideration. This type of study can’t tell why survival is better, but possibilities include distance traveled and a higher level of care provided by air EMS personnel. Aeromedical EMS personnel are more likely to trained to perform advanced techniques such as intubation, crich, and transfusion, and generally have more experience with trauma patients.

Use of this scarce resource for trauma patient transport remains expensive, and as recent accident statistics imply, somewhat dangerous. Trauma centers and systems need to develop evidence-based guidelines that use helicopters intelligently for benefit of the patient, not the aeromedical service owners.

Reference: Helicopters and the civilian trauma system: national utilization patterns demonstrate improved outcomes after trauma injury. J Trauma 69(5):1030-6, 2010.

Trauma Is The Leading Cause of Death …

We read this phrase all the time, in the newspapers and in many journal articles relating to trauma. Where do they get this? Well, it comes from mortality statistics compiled by the Center for Disease Control.

Trauma IS the leading cause of death in ages 1-44. In infants, congenital defects cause the most deaths and trauma is only #4. At age 45 and above, it begins to drop off, but stays in the top 5 until age 65 when it drops to #9. Overall, trauma is the #5 killer for all age groups combined.

This image shows the top 5 causes of death across all age groups. The blue boxes are unintentional trauma, the red boxes are homicide, and the green boxes are suicide.

One fact that tends to surprise people is that suicide is such a common cause of death. Suicides are not typically reported in the news, so most people are unaware unless it involves their family or friends.

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