BACKGROUND: Early transfusion of high ratio of fresh frozen plasma (FFP) and red blood cells (RBC) is associated with mortality reduction. However, time to reach high ratio is limited by the need to thaw the FFP. French lyophilized plasma (FLYP) used by French army and available in military teaching hospital does not need to be thawed and is immediately available. We hypothesize that the use of FLYP may reduce time to reach a plasma/RBC ratio of 1:1. METHODS: A retrospective study performed in a Level 1 trauma center between January 2012 and December 2015. Severe trauma patients who received 2 U of RBC in the emergency room were included and assigned to two groups according to first plasma transfused: FLYP group and FFP group. RESULTS: Forty-three severe trauma patients in the FLYP group and 29 in the FFP group were included. The time until first plasma transfusion was shorter in the FLYP group than in the FFP group, respectively 15 min (10–25) versus 95 min (70–145) (p < 0.0001). Time until a 1:1 ratio was shorter in the FLYP group than in the FFP group. There were significantly fewer cases of massive transfusion in the FLYP group than in the FFP group with respectively 7% vs. 45% (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: The use of FLYP provided significantly faster plasma transfusions than the use of FFP as well as a plasma and RBC ratio superior to 1:2 that was reached more rapidly in severe trauma patients. These results may explain the less frequent need for massive transfusion in the patients who received FLYP. These positive results should be confirmed by a prospective and randomized evaluation. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, level IV.

Blunt traumatic aortic injury (BTAI) in severe trauma patients is rare but potentially lethal. The aim of this work was to perform a current epidemiological analysis of the clinical and surgical management of these patients in a European country. This was a multicentre, retrospective study using prospectively collected data from the French National Trauma Registry and the National Uniform Hospital Discharge Database from 10 trauma centres in France. The primary endpoint was the prevalence of BTAI. The secondary endpoints focused chronologically on injury characteristics, management, and patient outcomes. 209 patients were included with a mean age of 43 ± 19 years and 168 (80%) were men. The calculated prevalence of BTAI at hospital admission was 1% (162/15 094) (BTAI admissions/all trauma). The time to diagnosis increased with the severity of aortic injury and the clinical severity of the patients (grade 1: 94 [74, 143] minutes to grade 4: 154 [112, 202] minutes, p = .020). This delay seemed to be associated with the intensity of the required resuscitation. Sixty seven patients (32%) received no surgical treatment. Among those treated, 130 (92%) received endovascular treatment, 14 (10%) open surgery (two were combined), and 123 (85%) were treated within the first 24 hours. Overall mortality was 20% and the attributed cause of death was haemorrhagic shock (69%). Mortality was increased according to aortic injury severity, from 6% for grade 1 to 65% for grade 4 (p < .001). Twenty-six (18.3%) patients treated by endovascular aortic repair had complications. BTAI prevalence at hospital admission was low but occurred in severe high velocity trauma patients and in those with a high clinical suspicion of severe haemorrhage. The association of shock with high grade aortic injury and increasing time to diagnosis suggests a need to optimise early resuscitation to minimise the time to treatment. Endovascular treatment has been established as the reference treatment, accounting for more than 90% of interventional treatment options for BTAI.

Military anesthesia meets unique logistical, technical, tactical, and human constraints, but to date limited data have been published on anesthesia management during military operations. This study aimed to describe and analyze French anesthetic activity in a deployed military setting. Between October 2015 and February 2018, all patients managed by Sainte-Anne Military Hospital anesthesiologists deployed in mission were included. Anesthesia management was described and compared with the same surgical procedures in France performed by the same anesthesia team (hernia repair, lower and upper limb surgeries). Demographics, type of surgical procedure, and surgical activity were also described. The primary endpoint was to describe anesthesia management during the deployment of forward surgical teams (FST). The secondary endpoint was to compare anesthesia modalities during FST deployment with those usually used in a military teaching hospital. During the study period, 1547 instances of anesthesia were performed by 11 anesthesiologists during 20 missions, totaling 1237 days of deployment in nine different theaters. The majority consisted of regional anesthesia, alone (43.5%) or associated with general anesthesia (21%). Compared with France, there was a statistically significant increase in the use of regional anesthesia in hernia repair, lower and upper limb surgeries during deployment. The majority of patients were civilians as part of medical support to populations. In the context of an austere environment, the use of regional anesthesia techniques predominated when possible. These results show that the training of military anesthetists must be complete, including anesthesia, intensive care, pediatrics, and regional anesthesia.