Forecasting of the course and outcome of shock in severe mechanical traumas.

The ability to forecast the course and outcome of severe mechanical trauma would aid clinicians in making decisions concerning the treatment of patients. Multifactorial regression models, developed from data obtained from 933 patients with polytrauma and shock, have a high predictive value. A two-part data sheet was developed to give a rating system that predicts the duration of shock in patients that survive and the life span in patients that eventually die. Factors considered in developing the rating system include systemic hemodynamics, hematocrit number, blood density, arteriovenous difference in oxygen saturation, and rectocutaneous temperature gradient, among others.