Article Date: 17 Nov 2011 - 2:00 PST
email to a friend 
printer friendly 
opinions 
A study of burn patients has found that those who suffered the most severe smoke inhalation also had more inflammation and spent more time on ventilators and in intensive care.
The study, led by researchers at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, is published ahead of print in the journal Critical Care Medicine. It is the first to show that the severity of smoke-inhalation injury may play a role in the overall pulmonary inflammatory response.
Inflammation occurs in response to injury. It includes the release of proteins that can trigger wound healing. But too much inflammation can damage healthy tissue.
Researchers wrote that their findings could "serve the purpose of better understanding the biological mechanisms behind smoke inhalation injury."
In the United States, about 40,000 people are hospitalized for burn injuries each year. As many as 20 percent of fire victims also have smoke-inhalation injuries.
At Loyola, smoke inhalation is rated from 0 (no injury) to 4 (massive injury). Researchers conducted an observational study of 60 adult burn patients, including nine patients who had Grade 0 inflammation, 15 who had Grade 1, 15 who had Grade 2, 18 who had Grade 3 and three who had Grade 4.
The study included an examination of proteins called cytokines contained in fluid flushed out of patients' lungs. (Cytokines are the so-called hormones of the immune system.) Researchers looked at 28 cytokines associated with inflammation, and found that 21 were at their highest in patients with the most severe smoke inhalation injuries. (The inflammatory proteins included interferon-?, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, monocyte chemotactic protein-1 and several interleukins.)
Patients who had low smoke-inhalation injuries (Grades 1 or 2) spent a median of seven days on the ventilator, while patients with high-inhalation injuries (Grades 3 or 4) spent a median of 23 days on the ventilator. Low-inhalation-injury patients spent a median of 13 days in intensive care; high-inhalation-injury patients spent 24 days. Thirty-three percent of low-inhalation-injury patients required a tracheotomy, compared with 52 percent of high-inhalation-injury patients. However, the degree of inhalation injury did not have a significant effect on subsequent pneumonia, sepsis, hospital length of stay or mortality.
Senior author of the study is Elizabeth J. Kovacs, PhD, director of Loyola's Burn and Shock Trauma Institute. First author is Joslyn M. Albright, MD, a research fellow in the Burn and Shock Trauma Institute. "This study is an excellent example of clinicians and basic scientists working together," Kovacs said.
Other co-authors are Christopher S. Davis, MD, MPH, Melanie D. Bird, PhD, Luis Ramirez, BS, and Richard L. Gamelli, MD, FACS, of Loyola's Burn and Shock Trauma Institute; Hajwa Kim, MS, MA of the University of Illinois at Chicago and Ellen L. Burnham, MD, MS of the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine. Gamelli is Director of the Burn and Shock Trauma Institute and Senior Vice President and Provost of Health Sciences of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.
The study is supported in part by funding from the National Institutes of Health, the International Association of Fire Fighters and the Dr. Ralph and Marian C. Falk Medical Research Trust.
In their acknowledgements, authors thanked Jurgen Peters, MD of the Universitatsklinikum Essen in Essen, Germany, and the "dedicated assistance of nursing and support staff in the Burn Intensive Care Unit at Loyola University Medical Center."
Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Source: Loyola University Health SystemVisit our smoking / quit smoking section for the latest news on this subject. Loyola University Health System Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:
MLA
8 Dec. 2011.
Please note: If no author information is provided, the source is cited instead.
Please note that we publish your name, but we do not publish your email address. It is only used to let you know when your message is published. We do not use it for any other purpose. Please see our privacy policy for more information.
If you write about specific medications or operations, please do not name health care professionals by name.
All opinions are moderated before being included (to stop spam)
Contact Our News Editors
For any corrections of factual information, or to contact the editors please use our feedback form.
Please send any medical news or health news press releases to:
Note: Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions.
