200: End-Tidal CO2 Correlates With, But May Not be an Early Predictor of, Central Hypovolemia in Humans

Abstract

Hemorrhage resulting from traumatic injuries is the leading cause of preventable mortality, and is responsible for up to 80 percent of civilian trauma deaths and 50 percent of combat-related deaths. Some of these trauma deaths may be preventable if the severity of blood loss is recognized early in the out-of-hospital setting. The purpose of this study was to compare side stream end-tidal PCO2 (PETCO2) at rest and during graded exposure to lower body negative pressure (LBNP) to test the hypothesis that PETCO2 would directly correlate with central blood volume loss and serve as an early predictor of central hypovolemia in healthy human volunteers.