Sammendrag
Background: Injuries are the leading cause of death for people under 65 years. This makes it the number one cause for lost productive life years. The trauma registry at Oslo University Hospital, Ullevål in Oslo has been operational since August 2000. This study point out factors affecting mortality and the amount of patients with vascular traumas, registered in the Trauma register.
Methods: The data is from the period 2001 – 2006. 4 404 patients were registered. 328 patients were registered with vascular traumas. The data registration contains personal data, accident, treatment, trauma scores and estimated survival.
Results: Patients with vascular injuries counts for 7.4 % of the total amount of registered injuries. Average age was 35.8 years. Mortality was higher among patients with vascular injuries compared with the rest of the registered patients (19.8 % vs 10.6 %). Penetrating vascular injuries from gunshots had the highest mortality with 36.4 %. The total number of patients with registered vascular traumas increased in the period 2001 – 2006.
Conclusion: Blunt traumas are the main cause to the increase in the number of registered vascular injuries. The number of penetrating vascular injuries has been nearly constant in the same period. The mortality of vascular traumas has decreased even though the number of death within 30 days has been nearly constant. The estimated Probability of survival (PS) underestimates the survival rate. Blunt traumas had a higher estimated PS than penetrated traumas. The increasing number of vascular traumas registered combined with a decreased recruitment of surgeons, may be a challenge for the coming years.