[Pathophysiologic changes in trauma patients and indications of damage control surgery]

Damage control surgery has become an inevitable strategy in the treatment of severely traumatized patients. Rationale for the DCS is the fact that the mortality in surgical patients who developed hypothermia, acidosis, and coagulopathy (lethal triad) is extremely high unless patients' physiologic stability was reestablished. DCS is usually indicated when patient shows signs of lethal triad during surgical operation. As most of patients who subsequently needed DCS could be judged as having most severe injuries during resuscitative phase, it may be more wise to select candidates for DCS during this phase than to indicate DCS during operation.