Physiology: Description of How Women's Organ Systems Respond to Trauma
The purpose of this paper is to explain how a woman's various organs and systems respond to trauma, and how many of those actions can result in minimizing chances of organ destruction and increasing the victim's chances of surviving the accident. In addition, some actions taken by the woman's body can actually be deleterious to her chances for survival. This woman presented upon arriving in the ER with several broken ribs, which resulted in a bruising of the liver and kidneys and a ruptured spleen. The first diagnostic signs were : low blood pressure, low respiration and low urine output. The woman's reaction to the accident constitutes the classic demonstration of shock symptoms. Of the various first diagnoses, that of the ruptured spleen is of the most concern. The spleen acts as a major filter of blood, as well as a repository for discarded red blood cells. Its rich blood supply foretells a large loss of blood into the abdominal cavity. The woman's reaction to this blood loss is to repress metabolism in order to reduce blood flow; of course, part of this reaction is due to the blood loss, which results in a self-supporting cycle of continually lowering blood pressure which corresponds to the loss of blood from the c
The broken ribs result in the release of several products into the surrounding blood stream, including type-2 cytokines (from the spleen and other organs) (V. As we will see later, this rush of platelets also creates subsequent problems. In an acute shock situation, the body shuts down many of its functions in the interest of addressing the patient's most-urgent problem. In addition to reduced kidney function, the patient's brain function slows down; she may appear lethargic, have difficulty talking, and eventually lapse into a coma. The woman's broken cells will put out markers for tissue injury: in the case of the liver, the SGPT and SGOT enzymes will be elevated, indicating liver damage. If the initial concern was the spleen, kidney and liver, it may also make sense for the attending ER physician to check pancreatic, stomach, heart- and lung-specific enzymes to monitor additional damage. As mentioned previously, the woman's response can result in actions deleterious to her prognosis. By lowering metabolism and, to the extent possible, attempting to staunch blood flow at the injured sites, the patient undergoes a series of protective measures which can improve her chance of survival. A further result of shock is that the woman's overall slowdown in metabolism and specific actions result in a reduction in temperature, which further reduces metabolism and protects the brain and other vital organs for a longer period of time than if they had been at normal body temperature. These platelets first move to the richly-supplied ribs, then also arrive at the sites of the injured spleen, kidneys and liver. The infection response of T-cells is not needed by the body in the early, acute stages of trauma, although they can be beneficial in a later period. The woman's kidney function is decreased due to lowered blood pressure, which affects the rate that the kidneys are able to filter waste products from the blood.
Common topics in this essay:
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SGPT SGOT,
blood pressure,
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broken cells,
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ruptured spleen,
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broken ribs,
loss blood,
blood supply,
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