[Central hemodynamics and gas exchange in the victims of cranio-thoracic trauma]

Cranio-thoracic trauma is characterized by severity of the pathologic process, peculiarities of the diagnosis, and a high mortality rate. However, problems concerning the correlation of hemodynamic and gas exchange disorders in patients with cranio-thoracic trauma, according to the principal factor of the damage, have been insufficiently studied. The purpose of the research was to study the condition of gas exchange and hemodynamics in this category of patients. Fifty-three patients with cranio-thoracic trauma (32 with main pathology of the cranium and 21 with trauma of the chest) were studied. The changes of gas exchange and hemodynamics in the early posttraumatic period in patients with principal trauma of the skull were unstable in character and responded easily to adequate therapy. Coarse disorders of gas exchange and low values of the cardiac debit were characteristic of cranio-thoracic trauma in which damage to the chest was the leading factor. Stabilization of gas exchange disorders was postponed in time, the hemodynamic parameters were stabilized by the end of the second day.