Renal Failure
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen The average 70-kg person has 42 L of water divided into the intracellular space (ICF) of 28 L and the extracellular space (ECF) of 14 L….
Critical Appraisal of Trauma Research
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen Good doctors use both individual clinical expertise and the best available external evidence, and neither alone is enough. Without clinical expertise, practice risks becoming tyrannized by…
Respiratory Insufficiency
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen The maintenance of gas exchange may be tenuous in the injured patient because of dysfunction in three key elements of the respiratory system. First, the central…
Principles of Critical Care
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen The last few decades have seen great advances in the care of the injured patient from prehospital triage and transport to care in the intensive care…
Coding and Billing
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen While most physicians know that payment for their services must usually be coded and billed for monetary reimbursement to happen, their traditional medical education and training…
Gastrointestinal Failure
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen For patients who survive the first 48 hours of intensive care, multiple organ failure (MOF) is the leading cause of death among patients in the intensive…
Cardiovascular Failure
INTRODUCTION Print Section Listen Cardiovascular failure is deterioration of cardiac function or vascular tone that results in impairment in end-organ perfusion. Collapse of the cardiovascular system can be either the…
Platelet Morphology, Biochemistry, and Function
SUMMARY Print Section Listen SUMMARY The approximately 1 trillion platelets that circulate in an adult human are small anucleate cell fragments adapted to adhere to damaged blood vessels, to aggregate…
The Vascular Purpuras
SUMMARY Print Section Listen SUMMARY Purpura, the clinical manifestation of blood extravasation into mucosa or skin, results from various conditions, including rheumatologic, infectious, dermatologic, traumatic, and hematologic disorders. This chapter…
Atherothrombosis: Disease Initiation, Progression, and Treatment
SUMMARY Print Section Listen SUMMARY The consequences of atherosclerotic vascular disease are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the developed countries of the world and are rapidly approaching…
