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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2017
Traffic, industrial or natural disasters and wars frequently threaten the lives of a large number of victims. Often the patients suffer a combination of injuries to the head, extremities, thorax, lung and abdomen. Immediate anesthetic measures at the site of the accident are required and essential to the survival of the patients with multiple injuries. During transport, further surgical and anesthetic treatment may also be needed. Occasionally, the number of people involved in a disaster exceeds the treatment capacity of the nearby medical institutions. Urgent and improvised decisions are required with a clear picture of the treatment resources at the site of the accident or during transport.
Special attention must be focused on necessary surgical measures and intensive care, as well as resuscitation and advanced anesthetic expertise — essential pillars of support. In many cases, the anesthetic treatment of patients with multiple injuries is the decisive therapeutic measure. The anesthetic technique must be guided by the pathophysiological requirements. The medications used should have a controllable and pronounced hypnotic-sedative and analgesic effect, without having a depressant influence on respiration or circulation, and they should improve organ perfusion. Furthermore, they should provide a means for cerebral protection. The anesthetic apparatus should be simple and compact and it should be possible to apply the technique over several hours, using room air, with or without the addition of oxygen. The agents and apparatus should be compatible with the use of every type of muscle relaxant and narcotic. New intravenous anesthetic agents meet these criteria.