An otherwise healthy 19-year-old male is currently intubated and being mechanically ventilated after a motorcycle accident in which he sustained a closed head injury and multiple rib fractures
Before the patient is taken to the operating room for cranial surgery, the respiratory therapist no-tices that he has jugular vein distention. The most likely cause of this problem is which of the following?
a. Increased cardiac output
b. Decreased ventricular preload
c. Increased intracranial pressure
d. Decreased systemic vascular resistance
ANS: C
Reduced venous return from the head increases the ICP; this can be caused by positive pressure ventilation and/or, in this case, the head trauma. Increased ICP can be observed clinically by an increase in jugular vein distention.
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