EMPLOYMENT OF TRAUMA AND INJURY SEVERITY SCORE AND A SEVERITY CHARACTERIZATION OF TRAUMA IN THE OUTCOME EVALUATION OF TRAUMA CARE AND THEIRRESEARCH ADVANCES

Objective To review the application of trauma and injury severity scor e (TRISS) and a severity characterization of trauma (ASCOT) in the out come evaluation of trauma care and their research advances. Data sourc es Both Chinese-and English-language literature searched by using MEDL INE/CD-ROM (1985-1996) and Index of Chinese-Language Literature (1985- 1996).Study selection Over fifty papers and reviews published over the past ten years were selected. Results and conclusion TRISS can be emp loyed for different purposes, that is, preliminary outcome-based evalu ation (PRE) and definitive outcome-based evaluation (DEF). TRISS is a method which is now the most extensively used for the outcome evaluati on of trauma. Even so, it still has some shortcomings, e. g., trauma c an not be given the weights that should be given, and the section of a ge is too simple. ASCOT is also a physiologic and anatomic combined me thod for the evaluation of injury severity and outcome. To some extent , this method obviates the shortcomings of TRISS in the calculation of probability of survival (Ps) with injury severity score (ISS). Theref ore, ASCOT is considered to be superior to TRISS in the evaluation of Ps. However, TRISS is still now more extensively used than ASCOT just because ASCOT was recently developed.