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Old 08-12-2012, 08:57   #3
swatsurgeon
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RockyFarr View Post
Works better than Factor VIIa but needs to be given IV push in fluids before 3 hours after wounding.
Col.,
Welcome aboard, please add where ever you see fit.

Goon,
as mentioned has to be given <3 hrs from wounding...several issues from the two major studies done on the drug in Trauma (CRASH-2 and MATTERS trials)
- this is an antifibrinolytic......prevents breakdown of naturally occuring clot, so need clot for this to work and in the civilian world with aspirin, coumadin, plavix....no clot!!
- CRASH-2 study showed a 1.5% reduction in all cause mortality, over 20,000 patients in >200 hospitals in 40 countries.....see any potential problems yet??
The MATTERS trial, >900 patients treated at military facility in Afganistan with more severly injured and better results relative to survival benefit. Was a retrospective study and dosing was all over the place at the discretion of the treating team but usually given within 1 hr of wounding.
Our problem is the civilian world is not made up of young healthy, in shape soldiers with greater prehospital care available....give me an 18D ANYDAY!!!!! vs civilain EMS for the most part (just a generalized statement, don't shoot me for that one)
Benefits: low cost, longer window of opportunity it seems. Just don't know yet about our (civilian trauma) population efficacy.

Hope this helps

ss
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'Revel in action, translate perceptions into instant judgements, and these into actions that are irrevocable, monumentous and dreadful - all this with lightning speed, in conditions of great stress and in an environment of high tension:what is expected of "us" is the impossible, yet we deliver just that.
(adapted from: Sherwin B. Nuland, MD, surgeon and author: The Wisdom of the Body, 1997 )

Education is the anti-ignorance we all need to better treat our patients. ss, 2008.

The blade is so sharp that the incision is perfect. They don't realize they've been cut until they're out of the fight: A Surgeon Warrior. I use a knife to defend life and to save it. ss (aka traumadoc)
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