Caloric requirements in patients with severe head injuries.
Indirect calorimetry was performed on 15 nonsteroid-treated, head-injured patients over 16 postinjury days. A search was made for a clinical marker that could be used to predict the caloric requirement in individual head-injured patients. Of all parameters reviewed, only motor activity correlated with the caloric needs of the patients (P less than 0.0001). Flaccid patients had a mean caloric expenditure of 108% of expected values, whereas patients with abnormal motor activity had a mean caloric expenditure of 191% of expected values.
D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism*; D002149:Energy Intake; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007427:Intracranial Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D010424:Pentobarbital / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012146:Rest; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
D010424:Pentobarbital