A look at recent hyperventilation studies: outcomes and recommendations for early use in the head-injured patient.
During the past decade, mounting controversy surrounding the use of hyperventilation for the treatment of head injury has raised concerns about its safety and therapeutic benefits. A recent investigation of the medical literature was conducted to determine if outcomes for the head-injured patient continued to support the use of indiscriminate, and often unmonitored, hyperventilation in the pre-hospital and early hospital phases of care, and to determine if current investigators are recommending the use of hyperventilation for the initial treatment of all unconscious head-injured patients. Findings suggest that head-injured patients in the pre-hospital and early phases of care are at increased risk for suffering hyperventilation-induced secondary brain injury. Current researchers are now recommending a highly monitored, cautions and selective approach to care; this approach calls our current practice into question.
Geraci
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University of California, San Francisco, USA.
Geraci
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D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000097:blood; D003422:Critical Care; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007427:Intracranial Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012121:Respiration, Artificial; D015996:Survival Rate
D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D010100:Oxygen