BMJ  2008;336 (23 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.39497.574525.DE

Editor's Choice

Prognosis and politics

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Given how common head injuries are, it’s surprising how little we know about their prognosis. But help is at hand. Based on their MRC CRASH trial, Pablo Perel and colleagues have produced new prognostic models for patients with traumatic brain injury (doi: 10.1136/bmj.39461.643438.25). An editorial explains that better understanding of prognosis will not only improve clinical care but will help us design better clinical trials (doi: 10.1136/bmj.39461.616991.80).

Improving prognosis almost always means rapid diagnosis and effective treatment. Two conditions where this is especially important are acute myocardial infarction and severe sepsis. Christian Juhl Terkelsen and Jens Flensted Lassen conclude that we need more centres that deal with large numbers of cases if we are to get "door to balloon" times down to 30 minutes for people with ST elevation myocardial infarction (doi: 10.1136/bmj.39475.482419.80). Jane Minton and colleagues sought to cut delays in starting effective treatment for bloodstream . . . [Full text of this article]

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