The Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) is an anatomical-based coding system

created by the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine to classify

and describe the severity of injuries.[1][2][3] It represents the threat to life associated
with the injury rather than the comprehensive assessment of the severity of the
injury.[4] AIS is one of the most common anatomic scales for traumatic injuries.[5] The
first version of the scale was published in 1969 [6] with major updates in 1976, 1980,
1985, 1990, 1998, 2005, and 2008.

Scale
The score describes three aspects of the injury using 7 numbers written as 12(34)(56).7[4]

Type

Location

Severity

Each number signifies

1- body region

2- type of anatomical structure

3,4- specific anatomical structure

5,6- level

7- Severity of score
1. Body region
AIS Code

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Region
Head
Face
Neck
Thorax
Abdomen
Spine
Upper Extremity
Lower Extremity
Unspecified

2. Type of Anatomic Structure

Region
1
Whole Area
2
Vessels
3
Nerves
4
Organs (inc. muscles/ligaments)
5
Skeletal (inc. joints)
6
Loss of Consciousness (head only)
3/4 Specific Anatomic Structure }Whole Area
AIS Code
Region
02
Skin Abrasion
04
Contusion
06
Laceration
08
Avulsion
10
Amputation
20
Burn
30
Crush
40
Degloving
50
Injury - NFS
60
Penetrating
Head - Loss of Consciousness (LOC)
02
Length of loss of consciousness
04-08
Level of consciousness
10
Concussion
Spine
02
Cervical
04
Thoracic
06
Lumbar
Vessels, Nerves, Organs, Bones, Joints
02
Vessels
04
Nerves
06
Organs
08
Bones
10
Joints
5/6 Level }Specific Injuries are assigned consecutive two-digit numbers beginning with 02
AIS Code

Fractures, rupture, laceration, etc.

Severity

Abbreviated Injury Score-Code is on a scale of one to six, one being a minor injury and six being
maximal (currently untreatable).[1] An AIS-Code of 6 is not the arbitrary code for a deceased
patient or fatal injury, but the code for injuries specifically assigned an AIS 6 severity.[1] An AISCode of 9 is used to describe injuries for which not enough information is available for more
detailed coding, e.g. crush injury to the head.
The AIS scale is a measurement tool for single injuries. A universally accepted injury
aggregation function has not yet been proposed, though the injury severity score and its
derivatives are better aggregators for use in clinical settings.[1][5] In other settings such as
automotive design and occupant protection, MAIS is a useful tool for the comparison of specific
injuries and their relative severity and the changes in those frequencies that may result from
evolving motor vehicle design.[1]
Abbreviated injury Score
AIS-Code
Injury
Example
1
Minor
superficial laceration
2
Moderate
fractured sternum
3
Serious
open fracture of humerus
4
Severe
perforated trachea
5
Critical
ruptured liver with tissue loss
6
Maximum
total severance of aorta
9
Not further specified (NFS)

AIS % prob. of death

0
12
8 10
5 50
5 - 50
100