Articles: critical-care.
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Critically ill surgical patients account for approximately half the patients in an active multidisciplinary critical care unit. Hypovolemia and sepsis are common in such patients and affect a number of organ systems. Monitoring these systems provides therapeutically relevant information that may decrease morbidity and improve patient survival. ⋯ Renal dysfunction is common in such patients; careful analysis of both urine and blood may identify prerenal as opposed to renal and postrenal factors. Monitoring of the gastrointestinal tract, especially for hemorrhage, is important. Finally, careful attention to nutritional status and provision of adequate protein and energy intake by mouth or by vein is a vital component of the optimal care of these patients.
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Critical care medicine · Jul 1979
ReviewMultisystem failure: a review with special reference to drowning.
Near-drowning represents an insult that can affect all organ systems. A common pathway for injury is hypoxemia, acidosis, and hypoperfusion. ⋯ Variations in vascular volume, heart failure, renal failure, coagulation disorders, and electrolyte disturbances may also be present. Patients should be observed for multisystem failure and therapy tailored to the particular needs of each victim.
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Fifty-one cases of cervical spinal cord injury were reviewed. The importance of the immediate comprehensive care after onset may be achieved successfully even in a General Traumatology Centre. ⋯ Mortality related to the spinal cord injury is 7.8 per cent. The methods used and our development are based on principles established by Sir Ludwig Guttmann; they have been shown to be durable and important.