A 71-year-old woman remained under the rubble of her house for 4 hours after an accidental gas explosion. She suffered from a crush syndrome associating fractures, minor skin burns (< 10% body surface area), inhalation lung injury and moderate hypothermia (34 degrees C). In addition to local signs of compression of the lower limbs, the patient presented with hypovolemic shock and developed acute renal failure on day 3. We describe here the variations in hemodynamic and oxymetric parameters and cytokine response during the first post-injury week. A vasoplegic state resulting from low systemic vascular resistances with progressively increasing cardiac index, oxygen delivery and oxygen consumption closely followed the brief hypovolemic shock. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha remained below normal levels while interleukin-6 increased markedly with a major peak on day 2, in parallel with the drop in systemic vascular resistances. Interleukin-6 is a mediator of impairment in cell membrane function and a vasoconstriction inhibitor. Isolated increased interleukin-6 has been previously reported in severely burned patients suggesting a pathophysiological and hemodynamic similarity between crush syndrome and burn injury.