Association of resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA) and mortality in penetrating trauma patients

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the association of REBOA and mortality in a group of patients with penetrating trauma to the torso, treated in a level-I trauma center from Colombia. Methods In a retrospective cohort study, patients with penetrating trauma, requiring emergency surgery, and treated between 2014 and 2018, were included. The decision to use or not use REBOA during emergent surgery was based on individual surgeon’s opinion. A propensity score (PS) was calculated after adjusting for age, clinical signs on admission (systolic blood pressure, cardiac rate, Glasgow coma scale), severe trauma in thorax and abdomen, and the presence of non-compressive torso hemorrhage. Subsequently, logistic regression for mortality was adjusted for the number of red blood cells (RBC) transfused within the first six hours after admission, injury severity score (ISS), and quintiles of PS. Results We included 345 patients; 28 of them (8.1%) were treated with REBOA. Crude mortality rates were 17.9% (5 patients) in REBOA group and 15.3% (48 patients) in control group ( p = 0.7). After controlling for RBC transfused, ISS, and the PS, the odds of death in REBOA group was 78% lower than that in the control group (odds ratio [OR] 0.20, 95% confidence interval [95%CI] 0.05–0.77, p = 0.01). Conclusion We found that, when compared to no REBOA use, patients treated with REBOA had lower risk-adjusted odds of mortality. These findings should be interpreted with caution and confirmed in future comparative studies, if possible.