Airlifts from Accidents Improve Trauma Outcome

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who suffer a traumatic brain injury tend to fare better if they're taken to the hospital by helicopter rather than by ground transportation, according to a new study.

Study author Dr. Daniel P. Davis explained that people don't necessarily get to the hospital quicker by air, but helicopters are more likely to carry staffers with advanced training in critical care, who can do more to stabilize people before they reach the hospital.

Helicopters cost, on average, 5 to 10 times more than ground transportation, but if that extra money makes a difference between life and death, it makes sense to pay it, noted Davis, who is based at the University of California, San Diego and Mercy Air Medical Services in San Diego.

"If I'm the brain-injured patient, then it's definitely worth it," Davis told Reuters Health.

He and his colleagues reviewed the outcomes for 10,314 people who experienced moderate to severe brain injuries between 1987 and 2003 in San Diego County, 3,017 of whom arrived at the hospital by helicopter.

One-quarter of the people died from their injuries, the investigators report in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, but they found that people were more likely to survive their injuries if they were transported via helicopter.

Helicopters seemed to be most helpful to people with more severe injuries.

Helicopters typically carry certified flight nurses, and/or emergency room resident physicians, Davis explained, which means that they can perform advanced procedures such as intubation and catheterization before brain-injured patients reach the hospital.

In an interview, Davis noted that helicopters can get patients to the hospital quicker from rural areas, but often offer no speed advantage in other regions. However, if being in a helicopter means patients get quicker access to advanced procedures, then air travel does offer another type of speed advantage, he noted.

Indeed, people transported by air who received intubation before reaching the emergency department were more likely to survive their injuries than ground-transported patients who had to wait for the procedure until they reached the emergency department.

SOURCE: Annals of Emergency Medicine, June 21, 2005.