Acid-Base disorders as predictors of early outcomes in major Trauma in a resource limited setting

INTRODUCTION: Mortality from trauma still remains a major challenge despite recent substantial improvements in acute trauma care. In trauma care patient resuscitation to correct hypotension from volume loss still majorly relies on use of physiological parameters such as blood pressure, pulse rate, respiratory rate, urine output, Glasgow coma scale and oxygen saturation in resource limited settings. In such settings, these methods may not be sufficient to detect occult tissue hypoxia, due to undetected hypotension and accompanying metabolic derangements.