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©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Crit Care Med. May 4, 2017; 6(2): 99-106
Published online May 4, 2017. doi: 10.5492/wjccm.v6.i2.99
Published online May 4, 2017. doi: 10.5492/wjccm.v6.i2.99
Severe trauma in the geriatric population
Juan Antonio Llompart-Pou, Jon Pérez-Bárcena, Joan Maria Raurich, Servei de Medicina Intensiva, Hospital Universitari Son Espases, 07120 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Mario Chico-Fernández, Servicio de Medicina Intensiva, UCI Trauma y Emergencias, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, 28041 Madrid, Spain
Marcelino Sánchez-Casado, Servicio de Medicina Intensiva, Hospital Virgen de la Salud, 45071 Toledo, Spain
Author contributions: Llompart-Pou JA wrote the manuscript; Pérez-Bárcena J, Chico-Fernández M, Sánchez-Casado M and Raurich JM made literature search, provided intellectual contribution and made critical reviews; all authors gave final approval.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Juan Antonio Llompart-Pou, MD, PhD, Servei de Medicina Intensiva, Hospital Universitari Son Espases, Carretera Valldemossa, 79, 07120 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. juanantonio.llompart@ssib.es
Telephone: +34-87-1205974 Fax: +34-87-1909721
Received: January 16, 2017
Peer-review started: January 18, 2017
First decision: February 15, 2017
Revised: March 3, 2017
Accepted: March 16, 2017
Article in press: March 17, 2017
Published online: May 4, 2017
Peer-review started: January 18, 2017
First decision: February 15, 2017
Revised: March 3, 2017
Accepted: March 16, 2017
Article in press: March 17, 2017
Published online: May 4, 2017
Core Tip
Core tip: Geriatric trauma constitutes an increasing problem. These patients have a limited response to injury. Falls constitute the most relevant mechanism of injury. Specific problems in this population include frailty, under-triage and the combination of traumatic brain injury and use of anticoagulants. Early aggressive treatment and palliative care in cases with a clear likelihood of poor prognosis must be considered.