FW: FOR GUNSHOT AND STAB VICTIMS, ON-SCENE SPINE IMMOBILIZATION MAY DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD

[Guest guest]

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2010/01_11b_10.html

Jan. 11, 2010- Immobilizing the spines of shooting and stabbing victims

before they are taken to the hospital - standard procedure in land and

some other parts of the country - appears to double the risk of death

compared to transporting patients to a trauma center without this

time-consuming, on-scene medical intervention, according to a new study by

s Hopkins researchers.

The findings, published in January issue of *The Journal of Trauma,* suggest

that prehospital spine immobilization for these kinds of patients provides

little benefit and may lethally delay proven treatments for what are often

life-threatening injuries. Wounds from guns and knives are often far from

the spine, yet patients are routinely put in a cervical collar and secured

to a board, the investigators say.

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