• Leszek Brongel.
• II Katedra Chirurgii Ogólnej Collegium Medicum Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, 31-501 Kraków, ul. Kopernika 21.
• Prz. Lek. 2003 Jan 1;60 Suppl 7:56-62.

AbstractTraumatic injuries have been described as the largest epidemic of the 20th century. In view of the number of victims and the associated costs, they have been also called the most severe and longest war of the contemporary world. According to Lipiński, every year every tenth Pole is involved in an accident and every one hundred-thirteenth Polish citizen requires specialist medical care. Thus, the general incidence is approximately 750 accidents per 100,000 Poles per year. 300,000 of them need hospital treatment, 30,000 die from accidents. Despite considerable progress in medical sciences and profound changes in the organization of emergency services within the past quarter of this century, multiple traumas continue to be a major problem in traumatology and the associated mortality rates in the best centers worldwide exceed 10%. Although, according to the recent reports, the most common cause of hospital deaths (30-50% or more of all fatal outcomes) is found in late complications of a severe trauma and posttraumatic shock, for example septic complications and multiorgan failure (MOF). Apart from severe primary injuries of the central nervous system, exsanguination continues to be the main cause of death (50-70%) immediately after the injury, at the site of the accident and in the ambulance (i.e. in the pre-hospital period) and in the first hours of hospitalization. The third life threatening cause is acute respiratory insufficiency after thoracic trauma. The "golden hour" procedures are particularly described as a prehospital time period (ABC ... system), emergency room period (ATLS system), damage control period and other life saving operations period. The general conception of these standards is minimalization of the effects of shock, respiratory insufficiency and intracranial hypertension in multitrauma patients.

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