A postmortem review of trauma mortalities--a comparative study.

Two hundred two mortalities from blunt trauma from the Coroner's Office of Ontario were reviewed and compared to 102 mortalities seen at the Regional Trauma Unit at Sunnybrook Medical Centre, Toronto, and its 36 referring hospitals (EMSS). Nonpreventable deaths due to head injury were defined and excluded from review. This left 103 mortalities from the Coroner's Office and 52 from the EMSS. The average postmortem I.S.S. of patients dying in the Trauma Unit was 53, compared to 33 in patients treated outside the EMSS. Of EMSS patients 5.8% had an I.S.S. below their LD50, with 53% below their LD50 in the reference group. This postmortem review shows the advantages of an organized system of trauma management.