ABSTRACT
Crush injuries are associated with regional ischaemia and muscle necrosis. This may be followed by the release of myoglobin and other breakdown products that block the renal tubules and cause acute tubular necrosis. An untreated increase in compartment pressure – compartment syndrome – leads to muscle fibrosis and contraction deformity. Adult respiratory distress syndrome may be caused by both thoracic crush injuries or during reperfusion of crushed regions of the body. Stress ulceration may indeed be caused by trauma, probably due to a sympathetic reflex response and catecholamine release. However Curling’s ulcer refers specifically to stress ulceration following burns.
