American journal of surgery
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Our understanding of the effectiveness of early decompressive fasciotomy for acute posttraumatic compartment syndrome is incomplete. Thirty-two patients who developed acute clinically evident compartment syndrome (23 in the leg, 9 in the forearm) were treated with decompressive fasciotomy an average of 16 hours after injury. Thirty patients (94 percent) underwent fasciotomy in conjunction with other urgent operative procedures mandated by concomitant injuries. ⋯ Only 2 of 29 patients with limb salvage (7 percent) had postoperative myoneural deficits after decompressive fasciotomy. Both of these patients had preoperative myoneural deficits. Decompressive fasciotomy before the development of ischemic myoneural deficits prevents the ischemic sequelae of acute clinically evident compartment syndrome.
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In this study, we examined the effects of hypertonic saline-dextran resuscitation (2,400 mOsm of sodium chloride, 6 percent dextran 70) on cardiopulmonary function and extravascular lung water in acute canine pancreatitis. Acute pancreatitis was induced in 21 dogs by injecting 0.5 ml/kg of autologous bile into the pancreatic duct. In 10 dogs, resuscitation was begun with a 4 ml/kg bolus of hypertonic saline-dextran solution; 11 dogs received no bolus. ⋯ Pulmonary hypertension accompanied by a significant increase in pulmonary vascular resistance and a decrease in lung blood flow occurred in those dogs resuscitated with lactated Ringer's solution alone. By contrast, dogs in the hypertonic saline-dextran group maintained pulmonary artery pressure and pulmonary vascular resistance at baseline values while nutritive blood flow to the lung decreased progressively. Our data suggest that hypertonic saline-dextran resuscitation effectively restores cardiac function while it significantly reduces fluid requirements, as well as the pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary edema that frequently accompany lactated Ringer's resuscitation of acute pancreatitis.