Objective To evaluate the safety and efficacy of transcatheter angiographic embol ization (AE) in the control of massive haemorrhage from large wound due to crush syndrome after Wenchuan earthquake. Methods From May 12 to May 26, 2008, 11 injured persons in Wenchuan earthquake with massive haemorrhage from large wound due to crush syndrome were treated, including 6 males and 5 females aged 16-36 years old (average 21 years old). All 19 wounds were infected.The hemorrhage was from the hip in 7 cases, the thigh stump in 3 cases, and the shoulder in 1 case. Six patients had hemorrhagic shock. All patients underwent arteriography to locate the bleeding artery, and transcatheter AE was performed according to the result of arteriography. Contrast-enhanced spiral CT scan and three-dimensional angiography were performed 48 hours after AE to evaluate leakage of contrast media and collapse of distal artery of embol ism site. Results Angiography for 11 injured persons after AE showed no occurrence of contrast media leakage, faint shadow to the distal branch artery of embol ic level, and significant increase of blood pressure of the bleeding artery, indicating the embol ization was successful. No active hemorrhage was evident in the wounds 48 hours after AE. For the 6 patients with hemorrhagic shock, obvious decrease of hemorrhage was observed after AE, gradual recovery of blood pressure and vital signs, and stabil ity of their condition were evident after supportive therapy. During the first 24 hours after AE, total volume of infusion was 6 750-19 600 mL (average 8 740 mL), and total volume of blood and plasma transfusion was 1 800-6 400 mL (average 3 500 mL). In 6 cases, contrast-enhanced spiral CT scan demonstrated faint shadow of the distal artery without contrast media leakage, and three-dimensional CT angiography showed collapse of the distal artery; in the rest 5 cases, contrast-enhanced spiral CT scan demonstrated shadow of the distal artery without contrast media leakage, and three-dimensional CT angiography displayed the full-fill ing of distal artery with obviously decreased vascular cavity. No severe compl ications such as muscle necrosis in the buttock and hip, bladder necrosis,dysuria, fecal incontinence, and impotence occurred. Conclusion The transcatheter AE is a safe, fast, effective and miniinvasive method of controll ing massive haemorrhage from large wound caused by crush syndrome after Wenchuan earthquake.
Objective To investigate the characteristics of patients with crush injury in Wenchuan earthquake and the corresponding operational methods. Methods From May 12th 2008 to June 18th 2008, 202 patients with crush injury of soft tissue were treated, including 110 males and 92 females. Twenty-five patients aged 19 months to 16 years, 129 patients aged 17-60 years and 48 patients aged above 61 years. The crushed time was 30 minutes to 154 hours. Sixty cases of openinjuries were treated by debridement and dressing or suture; 16 cases of damaged extremities (18 l imbs) and 6 cases of acute renal failure due to crush syndrome (8 l imbs) received amputation; 32 cases of interfascial space syndrome crisis (42 l imbs) were treated by fascia cavity decompression; 15 cases received the resection of necrotic muscle for 31 times; and 9 cases received continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT). Results All the wounds healed except 2 cases which died from intestinal bleeding and intracranial hemorrhage during the treatment of CRRT. Two cases were discharged 8 months after treatment, while the other 198 cases recovered and were discharged 15-120 days after treatment. The average hospital ization time was 53 days. Twenty-two cases (26 l imbs) were fixed with artificial l imbs 3-6 months after amputation and achieved good functional outcome. Conclusion The treatment principle of crush injury is “be active to decompress and be prudent to amputate”, the hardening muscle and the increasing level of creatine kinase and blood potassium are the golden indicators of fascia cavity decompression. Decompression at an earl ier period is preferred when there is a dilemma to choose, and open amputation should be performed when the necrotic muscle is hard to clear or the necrosis boundary is not distinct.
To investigate the method of using vacuum seal ing drainage (VSD) technique to repair the wound of the injured in Wenchuan earthquake and its therapeutic effect. Methods From May 12, 2008 to June 12, 2008, 52 injured persons (83 wounds) were treated, including 27 males and 25 females aged 11-83 years old (average 42 years old). There were 22 cases of crush injury, 9 cases of contusion and laceration injury, 17 cases of compression injury receiving incision decompression of fascia compartment and 4 cases of open amputation. And 37 wounds were on the leg, 13 woundson the thigh, 17 wounds on the forearm, 11 wounds on the upper arm and 5 wounds on the trunk. The wound ranged from3 cm × 2 cm to 30 cm × 15 cm, and the time from injury to undergoing VSD treatment was 12 hours-18 days. After complete debridement, the wound was covered by VSD dressing, and antibiotics were given according to the result of drug sensitive test. When wound infection was under control and granulation tissues grew well, the method of either direct suture or skin grafting or flap transposition was used to repair the wounds. Results In 21 cases (40.4%), wound secretion smear was positive, and multiple species of bacteria were detected, such as staphylococcus aureus, escherichia col i, proteus and klebsiella pneumoniae. After initial operation, 7 injured persons were transferred to the hospital outside of Sichuan province for further treatment. VSD treatment was performed on 33 cases (45 wounds) once, 6 cases (10 wounds) twice, 2 cases (3 wounds) three times and 1 case (1 wound) four times, resulting in the control of wound infection and the growth of granulation tissue. Then the wounds were repaired by either direct suture or skin grafting or flap transposition. Three cases (4 wounds) underwent VSD treatment ten times, leading to the control of infection and the stabil ity of condition. Conclusion VSD treatment can cover the wound promptly, el iminate contamination, prevent secondary infection and benefit late-stage wound repair. During the process of treatment, no medical necessity for frequent change of dressing can rel ieve the pain suffered by the injured and decrease theworkload of medical stuff, thus facil itating the rescue work.
Objective To analyze the spinal injury in Wenchuan earthquake and to investigate its cl inical features. Methods Data of 146 patients in Wenchuan earthquake with spinal injuries (79 males, 67 females; aged 11-88 years old, average 51 years old) were collected and analyzed epidemiologically. Two patients under 16 years of age, 15 patients withthe fractures of spinous process, transverse process or vertebra lamina, 1 patient with spinal fractures of type A2 according to AO classification but no corresponding type in Denis classification, and 9 patients with upper cervical injuries were excluded. The remaining 119 patients were divided into two groups according to their age: group A in which 78 patients were under 60 years of age, including 40 males and 38 females aged 18-58 years old (average 41 years old), and group B in which 41 patients were 60 years of age or above, including 24 males and 17 females aged 60-88 years old (average 71 years old). Analyses for the two groups were compared. Results The leading causes of spinal injuries were fall from high places (27.40%) and crush by heavy objects (67.81%). According to Denis classification, the major types of spinal injuries were burst fracture (54.62%) and compression fracture (33.61%). Serious nerve injury, defined as grade A, B and C in ASIA neurological function assessment, occurred in 31.51% of patients. The most common injured site was in thoracic or lumbar vertebrae (78.77%), and 52.74% of patients had combined injuries, among which the fractures of l imb (30.14%) and rib (19.86%) were the most common. Multilevel spinal fractures happened to 22.60% of patients. Comparative analysis revealed the rate of injury caused by fall from high places in group A (34.62%) was much higher than that in group B (12.20%). The commonest type of fracture in group A was burst fracture (58.97%), and it was compression fracture in group B (48.78%). The rate of serious nerve injury in group B (24.39%) was much lower than that in group A (44.87%). The rate of combined injury and multilevel vertebral body injury in group B was 70.73% and 39.02%, respectively, which was much higher than that in group A (combined injury 43.59%; multilevel vertebral body injury 21.79%). There were significant differences between two groups in all the indicators derived from cl inical data (P lt; 0.05). Conclusion In Wenchuan earthquake, the leading causes of spinal injuries are fall from high places and crush by heavy objects, the major types of fracture are compression fracture and burst fracture, and the occurrence rates of spinal injury, combined injury and multilevel vertebral body injury are high.
Objective To investigate the construction and services of the community health service system in Shifang, as well as the satisfaction of community residents with the community health services and the post-disaster emergency response capability of the community hospital, so as to provide decision-making suggestions on better reconstruction of the community health service system and improvement of its post-disaster emergency response capability. Methods There were 4‰ of community residents in Fangting town were selected by convenience sampling for a face-to-face interview using a questionnaire. Logistic regression was used to identify the influencing factors of residents’ satisfaction with community health services. Results A total of 250 questionnaires were conducted for face-to-face interviews, and 246 ones were retrieved (response rate 98.4%). Residents’ understanding and satisfactory degree of the community health service were 41.1% and 36.6%, respectively. Health education, medical expenses and medical insurance were the main factors influencing the residents’ satisfactory degree of community health services (P=0.050, 0.001, and 0.001). The proportions of disaster / disaster prevention education, exercises of post-disaster contingency plans, and psychological intervention as well as rehabilitation for residents were 37.4%, 10.6%, and 12.6%, respectively. Conclusion Community health services have not been widely accepted by community residents, and the satisfactory degree is low. The residents’ understanding and adaptation can be improved by strengthening the community health service propaganda. Strengthening health education, improving the quality of services, controlling costs, and introducing medical insurance reimbursement mechanism can increase the residents’ satisfactory degree. Including disaster emergencies into basic tasks can strengthen the emergency response capability and then provide guarantee for the residents’ health.
Objective To study and analyze the related data to emergent public health events in 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake and two years before and after the earthquake, to examine the emergent health control system of Sichuan in terms of organization, implement, current status and problems, so as to offer first-hand data and decision-making references to the perfection of the monitoring system and raising the effect of control and prevention of the emergent public health envents effect. Methods The report data were statistically analyzed by Excel, EpiInfo software. Results Between 2006 and 2010, the emergent public health events in Sichuan had reduced gradually year by year, and a wave trough was formed in 2008 when Wenchuan Earthquake attacked; the emergent public health events in each year mainly took place in two peaks, one was from April to June and the other was from September to November. Compared with the period between 2006 and 2010, five among six heavily afflicted cities and prefectures with 18 heavily damaged counties in 2008 had dropped in the listing of emergent public health events. Between 2006 and 2010, the emergent public health events happening in schools of Sichuan accounted for 75.00%, especially the township primary schools were on the top of each index as place, cause, morbidity and mortality, but there were no serious emergent public health events. Among nine types of emergent public health events, the contagious disease events accounted for 79.30% while the food poisoning events accounted for 14.33%; and the contagious disease events mainly were respiratory tract infection diseases such as chicken pox, mumps and measles, and hepatitis A which were all preventable with vaccine, and accounted for 82.93%. Conclusion The construction of Sichuan’s health emergency system is a good foundation for the handling of emergent public health events. The emergent public health events in the whole province get gradually reduced year by year between 2006 and 2010, and all kinds of emergent public health events have been handled properly. With the national support for the disaster relief of Wenchuan Earthquake, the provincial emergent public health events after the quake in 2008 have scored the lowest level in the history without severe epidemics after the earthquake; and the plan of no severe epidemics within three years after the earthquake has come true with partner assistance in health system. By improving the control of contagious disease, food poison and preventable diseases, the incidence of emergent public health events can be dramatically reduced with lower morbidity and mortality. Only by means of multi-departmental cooperation and social participation for jointly preventing and controlling school emergent public health events, especially for preventing and controlling the contagious diseases in countryside and township primary schools, can all kinds of emergent public health events be timely prevented and controlled with decreased hazard.
