Trauma research with main focus to improve outcomes for severely injured patients. Effect of changes in diagnostics, treatment, cooperation and trauma system development is evaluated based on registry data as well as ongoing prospective, randomized control interventional studies in cooperation with international collaborators. Results from previous and ongoing projects provide the basis for optimization for contemporary treatment of severely injured patients and trauma prevention.

Long term goals:

Trauma is the leading cause of death in the first four decades of life. The Traumatology research group has evolved as a natural consequence of the development of the Department of Traumatology. The primary focus of the Department is high quality patient care. Previous PhD research projects from our group include evaluations of system changes and specific interventions to subgroups of patients to ensure quality improvement: Gaarder 2007, Skattum 2013 and Groven 2014. To be able to continue quality improvement we have to strengthen our research milieu locally and increase the cooperation with our international research partners.

Most of the patients that expire within the first hours of injury bleed to death. In recent years, major changes in resuscitation have been introduced including balanced transfusion strategies. In patients with severe trauma and blood loss, the ability to form blood clots tends to be reduced shortly after the injury, related to the magnitude of tissue injury and shock. This condition has been named trauma induced coagulopathy (TIC) and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Rapid recognition and optimal treatment of TIC are crucial to improve outcome in these patients. As a partner in the international trauma research network INTRN, TIC has become a major research area in the Traumatology Research Group.