Please see Bibliography of References for a list of abstracts, manuscripts and posters.
Meybohm P, Bein B. EU CCEM. 2009;1:40-43.
Trauma patients may suffer from occult hypoperfusion despite normalisation of standard global haemodynamic variables after resuscitation. Tissue ischaemia and hypoxia is associated with increased risk of multiple-organ dysfunction syndrome and death. Nearinfrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has emerged in recent years as a potentially useful technique capable of detecting changes in tissue oxygenation continuously and non-invasively. Since haemorrhagic shock may lead to ischaemia, a fundamental goal of initial therapy is to ensure adequate organ perfusion and delivery of oxygen as fast as possible to prevent irreversible damage. NIRS-derived thenar muscle haemoglobin oxygen saturation has been demonstrated to detect occult peripheral tissue hypoperfusion, to enable goal-directed resuscitation therapy and to predict multiple-organ dysfunction syndrome and death with a similar prognostic value to base deficit and systolic blood pressure in both animal and human studies of haemorrhagic shock.