Is the metabolic response to injury different with or without severe head injury? Significance of plasma glutamine levels.

Acute brain injury is the single largest cause of trauma center deaths. Injury that does not involve the brain directly can lead to a cascade of changes in neuroendocrine system function. In order to evaluate the effect of head injury in severely traumatized patients on the response of body fuel mobilization and utilization, 42 adult patients were studied in the early «flow» phase of injury in the fasting state. They were divided into two groups: (1) multiple trauma patients without head injury (MI group, n=21); and (2) multiple trauma patients with severe head injury (HMI group, n=21)