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Clinical Focus on Transferring Facial Injuries
v) Finally, does the patient need to be
transferred with full spinal protection? If
so intubation prior to transfer should be
considered.
Assessing the airway - Although a talking
patient is encouraging, when facial injuries
are evident this is no safeguard against
airway threats. The mouth and throat should
always be inspected. Oral and nasal bleeding
can continue unseen. Foreign and loose
bodies (especially dentures and detached
teeth) should be removed. Unfortunately,
correctly fitting rigid collars restrict mouth
opening and make assessment difficult,
but if the potential for airway compromise
exists, these should be loosened enough to
enable examination (during which, in-line
manual immobilisation of the neck can be
performed).
If the risk of spinal injury is considered low,
the airway is best managed by allowing
the patient to position themselves upright,
thereby maintaining their own airway
patency. However, following high-energy
trauma, the presence of actual or potential
injuries elsewhere may preclude this
approach and the airway may need to be
secured prior to transfer. The presence
of coexisting brain injury and the need
to maintain effective ventilation are other
important considerations.
Current guidelines for intubation in
maxillofacial injuries are a little vague and
can be misleading. For example, bilateral
fractures of the mandible are a common
injury, frequently cited as an indication for
intubation. But they rarely require this. It is
only when they occur in combination with
a reduced Glasgow coma scale (GCS) or
spinal immobilisation that they become a
significant risk. Other indications related
specifically to facial trauma would include
i) when gross swelling is anticipated, ii) in
order to facilitate control of haemorrhage
or iii) in ‘significant’ facial injuries where a
long duration transfer is expected. However,
the definition of ‘significant’ requires clinical
judgement on a case-by-case basis and is
often based on the mechanism of injury.
If all else fails advanced airway management
techniques may be necessary, including
surgical airways. These are well described
elsewhere and are therefore not detailed
here.
2 B (breathing). Aside from the need for
oxygen administration and monitoring,
breathing problems are rarely associated
with facial trauma. However avulsed teeth
and dentures can be occasionally aspirated,
resulting in partial blockage of the bronchial
tree. This should be considered in any
patient with isolated facial injuries but
who appears to have asymmetric signs of
respiration.
3 C (circulation). Life-threatening blood
loss arising from scalp lacerations and facial
injuries is relatively uncommon, although
bleeding can still be significant, especially in
children.
Winter 2016 | Ambulancetoday
i) In the hypotensive patient, active
bleeding may be minimal when first
encountered, and it is only when the blood
pressure improves during resuscitation
that bleeding, both obvious and occult,
recommences. This may have significant
implications with transfers.
ii) Blood loss from occipital scalp
lacerations and even relatively ‘minor’ facial
injuries such as nasal fractures can be missed
in supine immobilised patients and although
haemorrhage may not necessarily be rapid, it
may continue uncontrolled over a prolonged
period of time.
A large scalp laceration. Unless pressure is applied
this would result in significant blood loss. Care
would be required with tight dressings, in case
there were large skull fractures underneath.
iii) Control of haemorrhage can be very
difficult, even within the relative safety of
the emergency department. Intubation
may often be required in order to facilitate
effective control. This takes the form of
packing of the oral cavity and nose - the
latter of which is a concern if skull base
fractures are present. Nevertheless, some
form of tamponade is required and
the patient should not be left to slowly
exsanguinate on the basis of a perceived risk.
This is a very difficult area of clinical practice.
iv) Packing of the oral cavity also
requires unrestricted access to the oral
cavity, necessitating the unfastening of the
cervical collar - the cervical spine must
remain carefully immobilised, making this (at
the least) a two person job.
v) Actively bleeding cutaneous wounds,
such as the scalp, can simply be closed with
staples, any strong suture to hand, or by
applying a pressure bandage.
vi) Epistaxis, either in isolation or
associated with midface fractures, may be
controlled using a variety of specifically
designed nasal balloons or packs. These
must be used with care if there are mobile
midface fractures - overpacking can distract
the fractures further resulting in further
tissue damage and bleeding. Nasal packs
are not without risk - toxic shock, sinusitis,
meningitis, and brain abscess are all potential
complications. Blindness has also been
reported.
If haemorrhage persists despite these
interventions, it is important to consider
pre-existing or acquired coagulation
abnormalities; only rarely is operative
surgical control of facial bleeding required
in theatres during the primary survey
(following blunt trauma).
4 D (disability). By virtue of their close
proximity to the skull, high energy facial
fractures are frequently associated with
varying degrees of brain injury or disruption
of the skull base. Therefore it is important
that the Glasgow Coma Scale or AVPU
score is carefully noted and regularly
reassessed. The management of patients
with coexisting head injuries is not discussed
in this article. Interestingly, the geometry of
the facial skeleton has been likened to the
chassis of a car. At the moment of impact,
horizontal struts of bone “buttresses”
collapse, thereby preventing the kinetic
energy being transferred to the brain (the
‘driver’). Effectively, it is argued, the facial
skeleton has evolved into a ‘‘crumple
zone’’. Despite this survival advantage, the
combination of extensive vascularity of the
face and its lack of deep fascia can still result
in significant blood loss and swelling.
E (eyes) - Although “E” normally refers to
exposure, from a maxillofacial perspective
visual loss is the next priority once i) the
airway has been secured, ii) facial bleeding
controlled and iii) any significant brain
injury treated or excluded. Arguably, visionthreatening
injuries are just as important to
the patient as limb-threatening problems,
especially if they involve both eyes. Early
identification of sight-threatening conditions
may be possible when the pupils are
assessed along with the GCS. At this time
the vision can be checked and obvious
ocular findings can be noted. At the
roadside, vision-threatening injuries that
need rapid identification are perforated or
ruptured globes, significant bulging of the
eye (proptosis - in essence a compartment
syndrome of the eye socket), and loss of
eyelid protection. Whilst other conditions
exist, there is little that can be done at
this stage. Useful symptoms and signs of
significant globe injury include.
i) Loss of vision
ii) Severe pain in or around the eye
iii) An agitated patient with signs of injury
around the eye
iv) Significant proptosis of the globe
A real skull,
showing how
fragile many of
the bones of
the face are.
Light can easily
pass, especially
though the orbits
and anterior
skull base’.
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