PITTSBURGH, Nov. 17 Emergency medicine researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have found that patients with similar traumatic brain injuries who receive an emergency breathing tube at the scene of an accident fare worse than those intubated after arrival to the hospital. The researchers also found that these patients' neurologic and functional outcome was nearly twice as bad. These findings are reported in the lead article in the November issue of Annals of Emergency Medicine.

Endotracheal intubation is an emergency medical procedure whereby trained medical personnel place a flexible, clear, plastic breathing tube down into the trachea to help air pass freely to and from the lungs. Often patients with traumatic brain injury need help to breathe to prevent further injury.

While out-of-hospital intubation is a valuable interventional tool in helping to save patients' lives, earlier studies had suggested that this rapid intervention may be more harmful than helpful.

The Pitt researchers conducted a retrospective analysis using data obtained from the Pennsylvania Trauma Outcome Study between 2000 and 2002 and studied adult patients with severe head injuries. The primary outcome for most of these patients was death, with secondary outcomes being various types of neurologic and functional impairment. Among the 4,098 patients who were intubated, odds of death were about four times greater if they were intubated out of the hospital. Neurologic and overall functional impairment was also greater.

"These findings present important challenges to the emergency medicine profession and EMS communities," stated Donald M. Yealy, M.D., professor and vice chairman of the department of emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and one of the study authors. "Paramedics, while very well trained, don't often have opportunity to perform this procedure, and must attempt it in a difficult environment and
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17-Nov-2004

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