Acute alcohol intoxication and traumatic shock. An experimental study on circulating microaggregates and survival.

The reaction to a standardized soft tissue trauma was investigated in pigs pretreated with gastric administration of saline or 40% ethanol. Circulating microaggregates in vena cava, vena portae and aorta were determined with screen filtration pressure (SFP). Using Swan-Ganz thermistor catheters changes in central hemodynamics were recorded. 1 min after trauma, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCW) increased over pretrauma values in alcohol-intoxicated pigs while cardiac output (CO) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) decreased. In control animals, CO and MAP were reduced. 30 min after trauma the control animals had restored their circulatory parameters while intoxicated animals had not. SFP increased in alcohol-intoxicated animals before trauma and more so after trauma except for in aorta. The standardized trauma was nonlethal to control animals while 6 out of 7 pigs, pretreated with alcohol, died within 65 min of the trauma. The data indicate that alcohol intoxication decreases survival after traumatic shock and that alcohol and trauma induced a significant increase in circulating microaggregates.