Resumen

CABRERA ROSELL, Pablo; HURTADO DE MENDOZA AMAT, José; MONTERO GONZALEZ, Teresita  y  ALVAREZ SANTANA, Reynaldo. Situación del daño múltiple de órganos en Cuba: utilización del SARCAP. Rev Cubana Invest Bioméd [online]. 2003, vol.22, n.3, pp.155-163. ISSN 0864-0300.

The experience gained in the study and diagnosis of multiple organ failure obtained from the databases of autopsies containing 81 010 performed in Cuba from 1962 to 2001, was dealt with. The multiple organ failure was present in 15 % of the cases and it was diagnosed in 44 of the 51 hospitals studied in the country (all provinces and the Isle of Youth) that are represented in the database. There was a significant difference in the percentage among the diverse hospitals; 49 % came from the intensive and intermediate care units and 16 % had a hospital stay of less than 24 hours. The most frequent causal factors were: severe histic damage and infections. The most common causes of death are the own multiple organ failure and its manifestations in certain organs. The most affected organs were the brain, the liver, the upper digestive tractus, the spleen, the kidneys and the lungs. In its physiopathology, it was confirmed that when a causal factor produces in the organism an immediate response, mainly immunological, that becomes systematic and causes characteristic lesions in different organs, multiple organ failure takes place. According to its magnitude, it may bring about immediate death, return in a spontaneous or therapeutic way, or manifest clinically as a syndrome of multiple organ dysfunction.

Palabras clave : MULTIPLE ORGAN FAILURE; AUTOPSY.