[Monitoring of respiratory failure in polytraumatized patients with pulmonary contusion (author's transl)].

In polytraumatized patients, pulmonary contusion complicated by pneumonia is associated with a high risk of fatality. The effects of both contusion and bacterial infection on pulmonary function can be estimated early by measuring the parameters PAPd-PCWP, pulmonary shunt volume and maximal PaO2 following FiO2 = 1.0 for 20 min.