ABSTRACT
Late mortality of severely injured patients could be prevented by the quality of early cardiorespiratory management. Indeed traumatized patients with high risk of multiple organ failure (according to age, ISS, amount of blood transfused, and/or metabolic acidosis) need a pulmonary artery catheterization as soon as possible (postdefinitive phase: during the surgical period or at the admission in the ICU). Such a procedure allows the intensivist to determine therapeutic goals in term of O2 delivery (DO2) and O2 uptake (VO2) in front of a frequent increased peripheral O2 demand, These goals (usually DO2 > or = 600 ml.min-1m-2 and VO2 > or = 150 ml.min-1.m-2) may be reached by the combination of prolonged mechanical ventilation (adapted to the pulmonary status), subnormal O2 carrying capacity (hematocrite between 30 and 35% in the absence of persistent bleeding), and increased cardiac output through an additional volume loading (without an excessive positive cumulated fluid balance on the second posttraumatic day) and the early administration of inotropic drugs (dobutamine). Reaching these goals usually permits a 61% reduction in the posttraumatic incidence of organ failure.
