title: The metabolic response to head injury.
abstract: Head-injury patients studied showed severe wasting immediately after trauma. Nitrogen balance studies were used to determine whether this severe wasting was due to a catabolic state. Patients undergoing elective neurosurgical procedures were used as a control group. The results show that although head-injury patients have a higher protein requirement than the control group, they are not catabolic; their protein requirement is normal.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000378:metabolism*; D004044:Dietary Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004044:Dietary Proteins; D009584:Nitrogen