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Trauma in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

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Textbook of Acute Trauma Care

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Abstract

The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) cares for the sickest patients in the hospital, including the severely injured traumatic cohort. One of the central components in this type of care is the restoration of near-normal physiology to allow healing and recovery to occur either over time or by facilitating specific therapies, including surgical procedures. A fundamental tenet of trauma care is appropriate resuscitation with blood products to individualised endpoints, with increasing recognition of the role of trauma coagulopathy, acidosis and hypothermia in worsening outcomes.

As high-volume Trauma Centres become increasingly familiar with the pattern and timing of organ support that trauma patients may require, such as respiratory, cardiovascular, renal and pain relief therapies, it is hoped this will translate to improved outcomes for these patients. Increased awareness of the specific complications in the severely injured trauma patient (such as nutritional deficits or venous thromboembolism) may allow more aggressive preventative therapies to be instituted, reducing harm suffered.

Trauma patients may present to the ICU at any point in their journey, and some will remain in hospital for significant periods of time. It is, therefore, vital to have an overview of the spectrum and progression of their injuries. This chapter provides an overview of the trauma patient in ICU. It details acute considerations, some significant complications and highlights the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to care in instances where survival is expected, but also when death is inevitable.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anaesthesia and Critical Care Medicine, Leeds General Infirmary, Leeds, UK

    James Sira

  2. Tactical Medical Wing, Royal Air Force, Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, UK

    Peter Lax

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Correspondence to James Sira .

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  1. Tactical Medical Wing, Royal Air Force, Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, UK

    Peter Lax

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Sira, J., Lax, P. (2022). Trauma in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). In: Lax, P. (eds) Textbook of Acute Trauma Care . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83628-3_31

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83628-3_31

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