Use of antioxidant therapy in shock and trauma.

Antioxidant therapy can be defined in the clinical setting as any process that prevents or decreases oxidant injury. A number of common clinical approaches to the shock and trauma patient can be considered as preventing oxidant damage. In fact, their beneficial effects may be related more to antioxidant activity than is currently recognized. In addition, there are a number of new drugs, many of them already clinically used for other indications, that have antioxidant and general inflammatory activity and are either undergoing or are about to undergo clinical testing. The era of antioxidant therapy has arrived.