Usefulness of End-tidal Carbon Dioxide as a Predictor of Emergency Intervention in Major Trauma Patients

Purpose: If the survival of patients suffering from severe blunt trauma is to be improved, appropriate interventions should be taken immediately. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the clinical utility of end-tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2) as a surrogate marker for predicting both the need for intervention and the prognosis. Methods: This is a prospective observational study. Nasal cannula was applied to measure ETCO2, and the following parameters, which are known to be related to the prognosis for a patient, were recorded: injury severity score (ISS), revised trauma score (RTS), arterial blood gas (ABG), lactate, and hemoglobin (Hb). To evaluate the outcome, we investigated the details of emergent interventions and expired patients. Results: A total of 93 patients were enrolled in this study. Emergent intervention was significantly associated with systolic blood pressure (sBP, p-value=0.001), ETCO2 (p-value<0.001), serum lactate level (p-value<0.001), pH (pvalue< 0.003), HCO3 (p-value=0.004), base excess (p-value<0.002), ISS (p-value