The American surgeon
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The American surgeon · Jun 1989
Outcome of trauma patients who present to the operating room with hypotension.
The case records of 101 patients with trauma who presented to the operating room (OR) for emergency surgery and had a systolic blood pressure (sBP) less than 90 mm Hg over a period of 3 years were reviewed. The sBP was 70-89 mm Hg in 47 patients, 50-69 mm Hg in 19 patients, and unobtainable in 35 patients. The mortality rates for these three groups were 6 per cent, 79 per cent, and 86 per cent, respectively. ⋯ Nineteen (45%) of these 42 patients responded favorably to aortic cross-clamping with a sustained increase in sBP to greater than 90 mm Hg within 5 minutes. Of these 19 patients, 42 per cent survived. The 23 patients who did not respond to aortic cross-clamping died in the OR.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)