Preliminary discussion on the prevention and treatment of shock after severe burns

Abstract

Shock is one of the most common complications and one of the main causes of death after severe burns. The prevention and treatment of shock runs through the whole process of severe burn treatment. Shocks after severe burns, based on their causes, are mainly classified as follows: hypovolemic shock characterized by elevated hematocrit, also known as burn shock, and caused by serious leakage of intravascular fluid to body surface and interstitial spaces in the early stage of burns; hemorrhagic shock caused by large scale of incision and tension reduction, gastrointestinal stress ulcer, or large area of escharectomy and tangential excision surgery; septic shock caused by various microbial invasion; anaphylactic shock caused by infusion of drugs or blood. From the perspective of the reduction of effective circulating volume, burn shock and hemorrhagic shock are hypovolemic shocks, and septic shock and anaphylactic shock are vasodilatory shocks. As the aforementioned shocks vary in terms of occurrence timing, occurrence mechanism, and clinical manifestations, individualized strategies should be adopted for the prevention and treatment.