[Infusion and transfusion therapy in polytraumatized patients]

Considerations of a physiopathological nature are expressed with regard to haemorrhagic multiple-injury patients in the light of the experience acquired in first-aid practice at the University of Turin department of emergency surgery. While treatment of the basic injury is the key to therapy, sufficient infusion management and careful monitoring of coagulation parameters before and during transfusion may be of fundamental importance in survival. By the same token, not all blood products available can be used indiscriminately. A treatment and monitoring protocol for the reinstatement of volaemia and corpuscle mass, and for the correction of coagulopathy due to loss, consumption and wash-out is proposed.