DHEA: a novel adjunct for the treatment of male trauma patients.
Despite significant advances in the management of trauma victims, traumatic injury with the ensuing sepsis and multiple organ failure remains the leading cause of death between the ages of 18 and 44 in the USA. Recently, interest in the clinically and experimentally observed gender dimorphic response to traumatic injury has led to the possibility of modulating cell and organ functions following trauma and hemorrhagic shock by the administration of sex steroids. Here, we review the effects of the adrenal steroid dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a precursor of sex steroid synthesis, on organ and immune functions following trauma-hemorrhage, and its potential as a novel therapy for improving the depressed cell and organ functions in trauma patients.
Jarrar
D
D
Center for Surgical Research and Dept of Surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, 1670 University Boulevard, Volker Hall, Room G094, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA.
Kuebler
J F
JF
Wang
P
P
Bland
K I
KI
Chaudry
I H
IH
D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003687:Dehydroepiandrosterone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology
D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D003687:Dehydroepiandrosterone