Blunt multiple trauma (ISS 36), femur traction, and the pulmonary failure-septic state.

Fifty-six blunt multiple trauma patients (HTI-ISS 22-57) were studied for the effects of immediate versus delayed internal fixation of a femur or acetabular fracture on the pulmonary failure septic state. The pulmonary failure septic state may be defined as an alveolar arterial oxygen tension difference greater than 100, plus fever and leukocytosis. These patients were divided into four groups. Group I (N = 20) had immediate internal fixation, postoperative ventilatory support, and was sitting up at 30 hours. Group II (N = 20) had 10 days of femur traction and postoperative ventilatory support. Group III (N = 9) was immediately extubated after surgery and had 30 days of femur traction. Group IV (N = 7) had special circumstances that should increase the duration of the pulmonary failure septic state. These four groups of patients were statistically identical by 20 different criteria on admission except that Group I had more recognized chest injuries than Group II (12 vs. 9). Group I required 3.4 +/- 2.6 days of ventilator support and 7.5 +/- 3.8 intensive care unit (ICU) days; they had 12 +/- 8.8 elevated white counts, 3.8 +/- 4 febrile days, 0.05 positive blood cultures per patient, four fracture complications out of 93 fractures, 59 injections of narcotics, and 23 +/- 8.6 acute care days. Ten days of femur traction doubled the duration of the pulmonary failure septic state relative to Group I at a statistically significant level for nine out of 10 criteria, while increasing the number of positive blood cultures by a factor of 10, the number of fracture complications by a factor of 3.5, and the use of injectable narcotics by a factor of 2. Thirty days of femur traction increased the duration of the pulmonary failure septic state relative to Group I by a factor of 3 to 5 for all criteria at a statistically significant level, while increasing fracture complications by a factor of 17, positive blood cultures by a factor of 74, and the use of narcotics by a factor of 2. Group IV, which had four out of seven immediate internal fixations, behaved similarly to Group II. Femoral shaft traction should be avoided in the blunt multiple trauma patients because it greatly increases the cost of care and the risk of multiple systems organ failure.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)