Fluid Management of Trauma Patients

Fluid therapy is one of the fundamental treatments for the management of trauma patients.Apart from supplementary hydration, fluid therapy is also applied for resuscitation.Especially in cases of hypovolemic shock due to bleeding, fluid therapy needs to be carefully adjusted to correct the shock.The importance of fluid therapy is increasing not only in resuscitation and treatment after hospitalization but also in pre-hospital care.Fluid therapy needs to be adjusted based depending each patient's volume status.The various classifications of fluids include crystalloid solutions, glucose solutions, and colloid solutions.Although not included as a fluid therapy, blood transfusion is increasingly gaining more importance than fluid therapy in unstable trauma patients.Early appropriate fluid therapy is crucial in the treatment of hemodynamically unstable patients such as multiple trauma and massive bleeding, whereas comprehensive fluid therapy should be applied by considering the characteristics of specific injuries such as fractures, vascular damage, and cerebral hemorrhage, as well as the age groups (children, the elderly, and pregnant women).