Combined effects of radiation and trauma

Abstract

Injuries, caused by both whole-body irradiation and wounds or burns, have been relatively little studied. Possibly because many investigators think that these injuries are just modified radiation-induced diseases for which the same treatment principles are valid. Other authors had the impression that, for instance, the radiation burn trauma is a new kind of disease which differs significantly from either radiation syndrome alone or from burn disease. There are many experimental data on animals which suggest that the pathology of combined injuries differs significantly from that of radiation-induced disease or of thermal or mechanical traumas. Wounds or burns which, in general, do not cause septicaemia could become entrance ports for bacteria when animals are exposed to whole-body irradiation. Thrombocytopenia is the reason for hemorrhages in wounds. The susceptibility to shock is increased considerably in combined injuries and the formation of callus in the bone fractures is significantly delayed. The healing of wounds and burns in the initial phase of the radiation syndrome does not always differ from healing in the non-irradiated organism. However, a few days or weeks later very serious wound infections and hemorrhages can occur. The additional injuries almost always worsen the development and prognosis of radiation-induced disease. The recommended treatment for combined injuries will differ in many respects from the treatment of wounds and burns or the radiation syndrome.