Resuscitative Thoracotomy Practices

June 8, 2026 updated by: Methodist Health System
Resuscitative thoracotomies (RT) are an effective life saving measure in appropriate populations [1-8]. Unfortunately, when used outside of these populations the mortality rate is typically more than 90% [1-8]. Western Trauma Association and Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma have provided guidelines for which trauma patients are a candidate for RT [1-3].

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

EPIC and trauma registry will be queried for demographic information, admission dates, discharge diagnoses, inpatient cognitive function, routine testing (imaging and labs) reports, and surgical histories to determine number of patients who underwent RT, survived the RT, deficits from their cardiac arrest, and if they were COVID-19 positive. A full list of variables to be extracted from the chart review is in Appendix B. Chart review and data collection for these patients should be completed by December of 2024.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

500

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Texas
      • Dallas, Texas, United States, 75203
        • Methodist Dallas Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Trauma patients who underwent RT in the emergency department (ED), operating room (OR), or intensive care unit (ICU) from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2023.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Trauma patients who underwent RT in the emergency department (ED), operating room (OR), or intensive care unit (ICU) from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2023.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Trauma patients who did not have a RT in the ED, OR, or ICU or were less than 16 years old from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2023.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Total number of RT (before and during the COVID-19 pandemic)
Time Frame: 2 years
Determine the rate of RT at MDMC. Particularly, if there was an increase during the COVID-19 pandemic, which would lead to greater exposure to transmissible disease
2 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
• Cognitive deficits of any survivors of RT (GCS, assessments by neurology, mental status exams, and/or similar assessments documented in the EMR)
Time Frame: 2 yrs
• Determine the rate of RT at MDMC. Particularly, if there was an increase during the COVID-19 pandemic, which would lead to greater exposure to transmissible disease
2 yrs

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Methodist Health System

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 18, 2022

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 10, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

September 18, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 6, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 6, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

July 13, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 10, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 8, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 015.TRA.2022.D

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Study data or any protected health information will not be shared with anyone that is not delegated to the study. The PI is committed to disseminate research results in a timely fashion. Sharing of results generated by the data analysis during the course of the project will be through presentation at national scientific meetings and/or publication in open access journals. All information obtained will be source de-identified and presented on a large scale and not traceable to any one particular individual.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

with in 1-2 years

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

The data will be presented at local, regional, national, and international sites. The research gathered will be analyzed and submitted to relevant peer-reviewed medical journals for publication to add to the body of knowledge in the science community. Our potential list of conferences include: AAST (American Association for the Surgery of Trauma), SWSC (Southwest Surgical Congress), Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma, WTA (Western Trauma Association), or similar.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ANALYTIC_CODE
  • CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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