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. 2021 Jul;87(7):1112-1117.
doi: 10.1177/0003134820973726. Epub 2020 Dec 15.

Pathologic Fibrinolysis is More Common in a Rural Trauma Setting

James M Bardes  1 , Daniel J Grabo  1 , Sijin Wen  2 , Alison Wilson  1
Affiliations

Pathologic Fibrinolysis is More Common in a Rural Trauma Setting

James M Bardes et al. Am Surg. 2021 Jul.

Abstract

Introduction: Fibrinolysis (lysis) has been extensively studied in trauma patients. Many studies on the distribution of lysis phenotype have been conducted in setting with short prehospital time. This study aimed to evaluate the distribution of lysis phenotypes in a population with prolonged prehospital times in a rural environment.

Methods: A retrospective study was performed at an American College of Surgeons-verified level 1 trauma center, serving a large rural population. Full trauma team activations from January 1, 2017 to August 31, 2018 were evaluated, and all patients with an ISS>15 analyzed. Thromboelastography was routinely performed on all participants on arrival. Lysis phenotypes were classified based on LY30 results: shutdown (≤.8%), physiologic (.9-2.9%), and hyper (>2.9%).

Results: 259 patients were evaluated, 134 (52%) presented direct from the scene. For scene patients, lysis distribution was 24% physiologic, 49% shutdown, and 27% hyper. Transferred patients demonstrated a reduction in physiologic lysis to 14% (P = .03), shutdown present in 66%, and hyper in 20%. Empiric prehospital tranexamic acid was given to 18 patients, physiologic lysis was present in 6%, shutdown 72%, and hyper 22%; this increase was not statistically significant (P = .5).

Conclusion: Fibrinolysis phenotypes are not consistent across all trauma populations. This study showed rural trauma patients had a significantly increased rate of pathologic lysis. This was consistent for scene and transfer patients who received care at another facility prior to arrival for definitive care. Future studies to evaluate the factors influencing these differences are warranted.

Keywords: fibrinolysis; rural trauma.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Time from injury to arrival.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Comparison of fibrinolysis phenotype based between rural scene and rural transfer and patients.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Impact of time on fibrinolysis phenotype.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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