[Monitoring of cardio-pulmonary parameters in cases of severe multiple injuries (author's transl)].

Haemodynamic parameters were monitored for one week (in greatest detail during the first 24 hours) in 35 severely injured persons who had been admitted for treatment within one hour after the accident and, as judged by the type of injury, had probably lost more than 1 1/2 litres of blood. The estimations included not only blood pressure, heart rate and shock index; but the cardiac index, pulmonary arterial pressure, pulmonary capillary pressure and parameters of oxygen transport were also determined with the aid of Swan-Ganz catheters. The importance of the data as guide-lines for the correct type of intensive therapy and their prognostic significance are discussed. The evidence provided by the cardiac index, pulmonary arterial and capillary pressure and the parameters of oxygen transport are of particular importance in these cases. A list is added of the values of some haemodynamic factors which should be taken into account in the initial treatment of severely injured persons.