A call is received from pre-hospital providers regarding an inbound trauma patient. An estimated 30 year-old male with unknown history sustained a penetrating wound to the right flank. On EMS arrival the patient was unresponsive but had a weakly-palpable radial pulse which was lost en-route. Their estimated time of arrival is 5 minutes.

Algorithm for the Selection of Patients for Resuscitative Thoracotomy

References:

1. Seamon MJ, Haut ER, Van Arendonk K, Barbosa RR, Chiu WC, Dente CJ, et al. An evidence-based approach to patient selection for emergency department thoracotomy: A practice management guideline from the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2015 Jul;79(1):159–73.
2. Burlew CC, Moore EE, Moore FA, Coimbra R, McIntyre RC, Davis JW, et al. Western Trauma Association critical decisions in trauma: resuscitative thoracotomy. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2012 Dec;73(6):1359–63.
3. Sherren PB, Reid C, Habig K, Burns BJ. Algorithm for the resuscitation of traumatic cardiac arrest patients in a physician-staffed helicopter emergency medical service. Crit Care. 2013 Mar 12;17(2):308.
4. Cothren CC, Moore EE. Emergency department thoracotomy for the critically injured patient: Objectives, indications, and outcomes. World J Emerg Surg. 2006 Mar 24;1:4.

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