CORTICOSTEROIDS IN PATIENTS WITH A HIGH-RISK OF FAT-EMBOLISM SYNDROME

  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 147  (3) , 358-362
Abstract
The effects of methylprednisolone on the clinical fat embolism syndrome were studied in a series of 60 patients who had at least 2 fractures of the pelvis, femur and tibia and who did not have any other important injuries. This series was dichotomized at random, and 29 patients were given 10 mg/kg of methylprednisolone 3 times, once on admission and, then, at 8 and 16 h post-traumatically. Thirty-one patients served as controls. Fat embolism syndrome was defined as a combination of hypoxemia, bilateral snow storm infiltrations of the lungs, petechial rash, mental disturbances, pyrexia, anemia and thrombocytopenia. Varying degrees of the syndrome were observed in 2 patients given methylprednisolone and in 15 patients in the control group. Methylprednisolone reduced all individual signs. There were no fatalities in this series of fractures. No complications were observed from the use of methylprednisolone. Methylprednisolone in an early pharmacologic dosage is effective in fulminant instances of fat embolism that occur despite adequate respiratory care and the proper treatment of fractures.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: