Enrollment in the clinical trial was stopped for futility

This project seeks to determine the effect of prehospital resuscitation with hypertonic saline vs. conventional crystalloids on the inflammatory response after injury. The leading cause of late mortality following injury is multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), which results from a dysfunctional inflammatory response after injury. Previous studies suggest that hypertonic saline may be beneficial by modulating this initial response and decreasing subsequent organ injury. This project takes advantage of a unique opportunity, afforded by an NIH-funded multi-center clinical trial of hypertonic resuscitation (conducted by the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium), to obtain blood samples from patients enrolled in this trial to analyze inflammatory responses early after hypertonic vs. conventional resuscitation. This study was an ancillary study to the main randomized clinical trial and thus prospective observational in nature

The proposed study will be carried out in experiments grouped in three Specific Aims: Aim 1 provides a thorough investigation of the immunomodulatory response following hypertonic resuscitation with regard to neutrophil, monocyte, and T cell responses at serial time points after injury and resuscitation. Aim 2 comprises experiments to investigate the mechanisms by which hypertonicity may alter inflammatory cell signaling. Aim 3 seeks to correlate the laboratory findings with clinical endpoints reflective of immune dysfunction including inflammation, organ failure, nosocomial infection, and sepsis.

The investigators hypothesize that hypertonic resuscitation will be associated with modulation of the excessive inflammatory response seen after injury and thus will result in reduced rates of inflammatory organ injury.

This was an ancillary study to the larger clinical trials of prehospital hypertonic resuscitation conducted by the resuscitation outcomes consortium. This study investigated markers of immune function and coagulation in a subset of patients enrolled in the larger trials at two of the clinical sites. Four publications detail the results please see references

Inclusion Criteria:

• Blunt or Penetrating trauma with prehospital systolic blood pressure < 70 or 70-90 mmHg with Heart rate > 108 OR Blunt trauma with prehospital Glasgow coma score <= 8

Exclusion Criteria:

• Age < 15 yrs
• Known prisoners
• Pregnancy
• Ongoing Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
• Burns < 20%
• Hypothermia < 28 C
• > 2 liters intravenous fluid prior to study fluid administration
• > 4 hour from time of dispatch

Patients enrolled in clinical trial of Hypertonic Resuscitation based on prehospital evidence of hypovolemic shock or severe brain injury

Data from the primary RCT will be made available through the Resuscitation Outcomes consortium. This was an ancillary study