Hemorrhagic and post-hemorrhagic shock

Abstract

Clinical surgery has provided an almost unlimited experience in the treatment of hemorrhagic shock in man. In spite of this opportunity, the number of careful clinical studies in man is distressingly small. Studies in man have almost been limited to World War I, World War II, and the Korean War and to a very few very careful civilian studies such as that led by Cournand and Gregerson during World War II. Nevertheless, progress has been outstanding. Transfusion has solved the major problems in the treatment of hemorrhagic shock in the younger patient. Most of the problems at present, numerically speaking, exist in the older group of patients who obviously tolerate blood loss less efficiently than do their younger counterparts. Progress being made in the freeze-storage of blood and in understanding plasma reactions will further solidify progress in transfusion.