Trends in pediatric traumatic major hemorrhage from a major trauma center.

Abstract

Injury requiring management of major haemorrhage in paediatric trauma (called 'code red' at our institution) can result in critically injured children with high injury severity scores (ISS) and mortality. The rise in penetrating trauma in younger adolescents has led to an increase in major haemorrhage activations in injured children at this trauma centre. Criteria used to define a paediatric code red, at our institution, is non-compressible haemorrhage, obvious signs of bleeding, clinical signs of shock and/or cardiac arrest at scene.