This is a valuable contribution to the clinical literature on shock, in detailing experiences with 700 combat casualties in Vietnam; and to the experimental literature, in exploring the role of disseminated intravascular coagulation in shock.
Prompt and vigorous fluid administration, guided by changes in central venous pressure even when measured under the stresses of the evacuation hospital, is recognized as one of the key factors in improved survival. The type of fluid administered initially, whether saline, lactated Ringers, albumin, or dextran, is regarded as of less importance than the volume administered. As emphasized by the author, merely restoring the estimated