The physician is most effective in treating:

B. Epidural hematomas.

D. Hypoxia.

DISCUSSION: The physician can do very little to repair damage incurred at the time of the head trauma such as cerebral contusions and lacerations. The physician's job is to thwart secondary injuries to the brain. Enlarging intracranial mass lesions, especially hematomas, are a common cause of secondary brain injury. Evacuation of an epidural, subdural, or intracranial hematoma can be life saving. Metabolic insults are another cause of secondary neurologic injury. Hypoxia, hypotension, and hypocapnia are avoidable secondary insults that should be treated at the scene of the accident. Unfortunately, a large percentage of trauma patients still arrive at the emergency room with metabolic abnormalities.