A 24-year-old male arrives at the emergency department via air transport after sustaining a fall while rock climbing. The patient is unresponsive with sluggishly reactive pupils upon arrival. His right arm and bilateral lower extremities have obvious fractures. He was intubated by EMS and requires mechanical ventilation. A CT scan reveals multiple head bleeds and intracranial swelling with a midline shift. The patient is rushed to surgery with the plan to relieve the pressure of the intracranial swelling.
-Following the patient's surgical procedure,he is admitted to the neurological intensive care unit.Interventions are implemented to decrease intracranial pressure,including the administration of intravenous hypertonic saline.Which of the following do you anticipate as the therapeutic response to the administration of this medication?

Question

A 24-year-old male arrives at the emergency department via air transport after sustaining a fall while rock climbing. The patient is unresponsive with sluggishly reactive pupils upon arrival. His right arm and bilateral lower extremities have obvious fractures. He was intubated by EMS and requires mechanical ventilation. A CT scan reveals multiple head bleeds and intracranial swelling with a midline shift. The patient is rushed to surgery with the plan to relieve the pressure of the intracranial swelling.
-Following the patient's surgical procedure,he is admitted to the neurological intensive care unit.Interventions are implemented to decrease intracranial pressure,including the administration of intravenous hypertonic saline.Which of the following do you anticipate as the therapeutic response to the administration of this medication?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Hypertonic saline is used to decrease intracranial pressure by drawing fluid out of brain tissue and into blood vessels, increasing intravascular volume and decreasing extravascular volume. This in turn helps to reduce brain swelling and relieve pressure on the skull. Therefore, the therapeutic response to the administration of intravenous hypertonic saline would be decreased extravascular volume and increased intravascular volume.

A 24-Year-Old Male Arrives at the Emergency Department Via Air