| Hypovolemia | |
|---|---|
| Classification and external resources | |
| ICD-10 | E86, R57.1, T81.1 |
| ICD-9 | 276.52 |
| MeSH | D020896 |
In physiology and medicine, hypovolemia (also hypovolaemia) is a state of decreased blood volume; more specifically, decrease in volume of blood plasma.[1][2] It is thus the intravascular component of volume contraction (or loss of blood volume due to things such as hemorrhaging or dehydration), but, as it also is the most essential one, hypovolemia and volume contraction are sometimes used synonymously.
Hypovolemia is characterized by salt (sodium) depletion and thus differs from dehydration, which is defined as excessive loss of body water.[3]
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Common causes of hypovolemia are dehydration, bleeding, vomiting,[4] severe burns[5][6] and drug vasodilators typically used to treat hypertensive individuals. Rarely, it may occur as a result of a blood donation,[7] sweating,[4] and alcohol consumption.[4] It is also common during surgery due to the use of anesthetics, nil-by-mouth, and in-operation bleeding. A ruptured ovarian cyst associated with (PCOS - polycystic ovarian syndrome) may cause severe internal bleeding, causing hypovolemic shock.
Clinical symptoms may not be present until 10–20% of total whole-blood volume is lost.
Hypovolemia can be recognized by tachycardia, diminished blood pressure,[8] and the absence of perfusion as assessed by skin signs (skin turning pale) and/or capillary refill on forehead, lips and nail beds. The patient may feel dizzy, faint, nauseated, or very thirsty. These signs are also characteristic of most types of shock.
Note that in children, compensation can result in an artificially high blood pressure despite hypovolemia. Children will typically compensate (maintain blood pressure despite loss of blood volume) for a longer period than adults, but will deteriorate rapidly and severely once they do begin to decompensate. This is another reason (aside from initial lower blood volume) that even the possibility of internal bleeding in children should almost always be treated aggressively.
Also look for obvious signs of external bleeding while remembering that people can bleed to death internally without any external blood loss.
Also consider possible mechanisms of injury that may have caused internal bleeding such as ruptured or bruised internal organs. If trained to do so and the situation permits, conduct a secondary survey and check the chest and abdomen for pain, deformity, guarding, discoloration or swelling. Bleeding into the abdominal cavity can cause the classical bruising patterns of Grey Turner's sign or Cullen's sign.
Most sources state that there are 4 stages of hypovolemic shock,[9][10] however a number of other systems exist with as many as 5 stages.[11]
The 4 stages are sometimes known as the "Tennis" staging of hypovolemic shock, as the 4 stages of % volume of blood loss mimic the scores in a game of tennis: 15, 15-30, 30-40, 40.[9][10] It is basically the same as used in classifying bleeding by blood loss.
Minor hypovolemia from a known cause that has been completely controlled (such as a blood donation from a healthy patient who is not anemic) may be countered with initial rest for up to half an hour. Oral fluids that include moderate sugars and electrolytes are needed to replenish depleted sodium ions. Furthermore the advice for the donor is to eat good solid meals with proteins for the next few days. Typically, this would involve a fluid volume of less than one liter, although this is highly dependent on body weight. Larger people can tolerate slightly more blood loss than smaller people.
More serious hypovolemia should be assessed by a physician.
External bleeding should be controlled by direct pressure. If direct pressure fails, a tourniquet should be used in the case of hemorrhage that cannot be controlled by direct pressure. If left on for more than 10 minutes at a time, there is serious risk of it killing the tissue below its application upon a limb. This is because it reduces the blood supply to these tissues therefore reducing oxygen and nutrient supply needed to keep it alive.
The US Military now suggests applying a tourniquet to a bleeding extremity first, because direct pressure does not usually stop bleeding. Other techniques such as elevation and pressure points usually fail completely.
If a first-aid provider recognizes internal bleeding the life-saving measure to take is to immediately call for emergency assistance.
Emergency oxygen should be immediately employed to increase the efficiency of the patient's remaining blood supply. This intervention can be life-saving.
The use of intravenous fluids (IVs) may help compensate for lost fluid volume, but IV fluids cannot carry oxygen in the way that blood can, however blood substitutes are being developed which can. Infusion of colloid or crystalloid IV fluids will also dilute clotting factors within the blood, increasing the risk of bleeding. It is current best practice to allow permissive hypotension in patients suffering from hypovolemic shock[13] both to ensure clotting factors are not overly diluted but also to stop blood pressure being artificially raised to a point where it "blows off" clots that have formed.
If the hypovolemia was caused by medication, the administration of antidotes may be appropriate but should be carefully monitored to avoid shock or the emergence of other pre-existing conditions.
Fluid replacement is beneficial in hypovolemia of stage 2, and is necessary in stage 3 and 4.[12] Blood transfusions coupled with surgical repair are the definitive treatment for hypovolemia caused by trauma. See also the discussion of shock and the importance of treating reversible shock while it can still be countered.
For a patient presenting with hypovolemic shock in hospital the following investigations would be carried out:
The following interventions would be carried out:
Hypovolemia has historically been termed desanguination (from Latin sanguis, blood), meaning a massive loss of blood. The term was widely used by the Hippocrates in traditional medicine practiced in the Greco-Roman civilization and in Europe during the Middle Ages. The word was possibly used to describe the lack of personality (by death or by weakness) that often occurred once a person suffered hemorrhage or massive blood loss.
In cases in which loss of blood volume is clearly attributable to bleeding (as opposed to, e.g., dehydration), most medical practitioners of today prefer the term exsanguination for its greater specificity and descriptiveness, with the effect that the latter term is now more common in the relevant context.[14]
In The Simpsons episode "Blood Feud" (7F22: Season 2, Episode 22), C. Montgomery Burns suffers an attack of hypovolemia, described by Dr. Julius Hibbert as "hypohemia, meaning 'low blood'"; writers coined the latter term to satirize the proliferation of complex medical terms for conditions easily describable in plain English. The writers used the same roots occurring in the first and last elements of hypovolemia, with the added h being a transliteration of the breath mark placed over the initial alpha of the Greek root -[h]aim- when that element occurs at the start of a word or (in English words coined from Greek roots, but not in classical Greek) after an element that ends in a vowel.
In the horror film Saw V, two victims are each forced to provide 5 US pints (2,370 mL) of blood, producing markedly noticeable symptoms of hypovolemia.
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