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Head Injury

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Damage Control Management in the Polytrauma Patient

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Abstract

The management of a head-injured patient with multiple other injuries presents one of the most challenging and difficult clinical scenarios in trauma critical care. This is due in part to the fact that the treatment of other injuries, such as orthopedic, spine, and craniofacial fractures, has the potential for worsening the neurologic outcome. This potential worsening is not necessarily directly related to the primary repair or the timing of surgery, but more to the fact that additional surgery with potential blood loss and possible resultant hypotension or hypoxia can adversely affect an injured brain. It has been shown that a single episode of hypotension or hypoxia can adversely affect outcome of all severities of head injury [1–6].

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    James M. Schuster MD, PhD

  2. Department of Orthopaedics and Department of Neurosurgery, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, Colorado, USA

    Philip F. Stahel MD

Authors
  1. James M. Schuster MD, PhD
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  2. Philip F. Stahel MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Philip F. Stahel MD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Trauma, Zurich University, Zurich, Switzerland

    Hans-Christoph Pape

  2. Division of General Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    Andrew B. Peitzman

  3. Department of Surgery, Division of Acute Care Surgery, University of Rochester, Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA

    Michael F. Rotondo

  4. Department of Academic Trauma & Orthopaedics, University of Leeds, Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom

    Peter V. Giannoudis

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Schuster, J.M., Stahel, P.F. (2017). Head Injury. In: Pape, HC., Peitzman, A., Rotondo, M., Giannoudis, P. (eds) Damage Control Management in the Polytrauma Patient. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52429-0_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52429-0_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-52427-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-52429-0

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