Interactions between ethanol and the responses to injury.

After finding changes in the biochemical response to injury in patients who had consumed ethanol (27) we have examined the effect of acute ethanol intoxication on the outcome of injury using the bilateral hindlimb ischemia model in the rat. Technical difficulties were encountered but it was possible to devise an experiment in which realistic plasma ethanol levels and a lowered redox state were present during the response to a standard 4-hr period of bilateral hind-limb ischemia. Acute intoxication had little effect on the mortality rate or survival time. Extrapolating the findings to man it would seem that if ethanol intoxication increased the dangers associated with trauma its effect would be in increased risks of airway obstruction due to vomit, etc., rather than in altered biochemical responses.