The Response to Injury in the Child & Bone Healing

The paediatric trauma patient differs in important ways from the adult, particularly with the nutritional requirements and protein catabolism. The response to trauma is classically described as two phases and this is largely the same for children. The initial ebb phase is characterised by decreased cardiac output, temperature, blood pressure and oxygen consumption. This is followed by the flow phase, with increased cardiac output, increased core temperature and elevated expression of catabolic hormones, leading to muscle breakdown.