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Treatment of combined subglottic and critically low tracheal stenoses secondary to burn inhalation injury.

We report a case of combined severe subglottic and lower tracheobronchial stenoses after an inhalation burn injury. The patient was successfully treated by the insertion of a bifurcated silicone rubber stent. The proximal limb of the silicone tube was used to stent the subglottic stenosis after it had been resected, a treatment option not previously reported. It is speculated that the diffuse airway damage resulted from a combination of thermal injury, mechanical trauma and infection. The relatively late symptomatic presentation of the lower tracheal stricture is stressed and the treatment options discussed.

Burns, Inhalation

The role of carbon monoxide poisoning in the production of inhalation burns.

Because heat and many poisonous chemicals are generated in a fire, studies of inhalation burns have tended to focus on injury by heat and irritative chemicals. In view of the frequent carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning associated with burn deaths and in patients with inhalation burns, however, nonirritative poisonous gases such as CO cannot be disregarded as possible causative factors involved in the production of inhalation burns. Accordingly, we attempted to clarify in animals the effect of nonlethal CO poisoning on inhalation burns due to heated air. The experimental results indicate that inhaling an amount of moderately heated dry air that alone could not cause pulmonary injury produces severe pulmonary injury in the presence of CO. This seems to occur because CO poisoning causes hyperventilation and thus allows a massive amount of heat to reach the lung.

Animals

Mass ammonia inhalational burns--experience in the management of 12 patients.

Twelve Korean crew members of a deep sea fishing vessel were admitted to the Burns Centre, Singapore General Hospital following exposure to ammonia gas. The injuries sustained were primarily respiratory burns with minor cutaneous and corneal burns. They were divided into three grades of severity based on the admission findings and subsequent clinical course. Management was according to a standard respiratory burns protocol. Eight patients were intubated. Ten of the patients with mild and moderate involvement of the respiratory tract recovered without complication. Of the two patients with severe respiratory burns, one died while another progressed to chronic debilitating airway disease.

Accidents, Occupational

Early leukocyte gene expression associated with age, burn size, and inhalation injury in severely burned adults.

BACKGROUND: In the patient with burn injury, older age, larger percentage of total body surface area (TBS) burned, and inhalation injury are established risk factors for death, which typically results from multisystem organ failure and sepsis, implicating burn-induced immune dysregulation as a contributory mechanism. We sought to identify early transcriptomic changes in circulating leukocytes underlying increased mortality associated with these three risk factors. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of the Glue Grant database. From 2003 to 2010, 324 adults with 20% or greater TBS burned were prospectively enrolled at five US burn centers, and 112 provided blood samples within 1 week after burn. RNA was extracted from pooled leukocytes for hybridization onto Affymetrix HU133 Plus 2.0 GeneChips. A multivariate regression model was constructed to determine risk factors for mortality. Testing for differential gene association associated with age, burn size, and inhalation injury was based on linear models using a fold change threshold of 1.5 and false discovery rate of 0.05. RESULTS: After adjusting for potential confounders, age greater than 60 years (relative risk [RR], 4.53; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.93-6.99), burn size greater than 40% TBS (RR, 4.24; 95% CI, 2.61-6.91), and inhalation injury (RR, 2.08; 95% CI, 1.35-3.21) were independently associated with mortality. No genes were differentially expressed in association with age greater than 60 years or inhalation injury. Fifty-one probe sets representing 39 unique genes were differentially expressed in leukocytes from patients with burn size greater than 40% TBS; these genes were associated with platelet activation and degranulation/exocytosis, and gene-set enrichment analysis suggested increased cellular proliferation and down-regulation of proinflammatory cytokines. CONCLUSION: Among adults with large burns, older age, increasing burn size, and inhalation injury have a modest effect on the leukocyte transcriptome in the context of the "genomic storm" induced by a 20% or greater than TBS burned. The 39-gene signature we identified may provide novel targets for the development of therapies to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with burns greater than 40% TBS. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Epidemiologic study, level III.

Adult

Alveolar macrophage chemotaxis in fire victims with smoke inhalation and burns injury.

In vitro migration of alveolar macrophages was studied in 24 fire victims and 19 controls; all subjects were cigarette smokers. Unstimulated (P = 0.01) and stimulated migration towards casein-(P = 0.01) and zymosan-activated serum (P = 0.002) of macrophages from smoke inhalation patients (SI) (n = 19) was increased when compared to control subjects (CS). Migration of alveolar macrophages from patients with burns without smoke inhalation (burns only, BO) was not increased. Patients with smoke inhalation and no burns (smoke only, SO) (n = 9) had increased migration when compared to controls but this was not statistically significant. Patients with smoke inhalation and burns (SB) (n = 10) had increased unstimulated migration (P = 0.01) and increased migration towards casein (P less than 0.005), ZAS (P less than 0.002) and F-met-leu-phe (P less than 0.05) when compared to controls (CS). Lavage fluid from the fire victims displayed chemotactic activity towards normal human neutrophils and its analysis for the components of the complement cascade proved positive (Clq, Clr, Factor B and C3). These data suggest that activation of alveolar macrophages may contribute to the development of pathophysiological changes in patients with smoke inhalation (SI) and particularly those with smoke inhalation and burns (SB).

Burns

Serum procalcitonin as an index of inhalation injury in burns.

The molecular heterogeneity of serum immunoreactive calcitonin (iCT) was analyzed from a prospective study of 41 burn patients. Using different region-specific anticalcitonin antisera, the ratio of mid-region-recognizing to carboxyl terminal-region-recognizing iCT was found to increase acutely in those who subsequently died. The highest ratios occurred in those who died early of respiratory complications. Sephadex chromatography and reversed-phase HPLC demonstrated that the serum iCT circulated predominantly in the large molecular mass prohormone form (16 kDa). In comparison, iCT of normal human lung and of normal thyroid was shown to consist primarily of smaller monomeric mass forms. Furthermore, in 12 normal volunteers who were evaluated with a calcium-pentagastrin infusion, the ratio of iCT levels did not differ from the baseline ratio despite a 50% increase in serum iCT. These results suggest that in burns, the inhalational injury-associated hypercalcitonemia is characterized by a preferential release of procalcitonin; a form of constitutive secretion. The measurement of serum procalcitonin levels would appear to be a useful prognostic indicator of the severity of inhalational injury occurring in burn patients.

Biomarkers

Experience with partial cricoid resection and thyrotracheal anastomosis.

Since 1973, 28 patients have undergone tracheal and subglottic resection with reconstruction by primary laryngotracheal anastomosis. Nine patients had postintubation stricture, eight had blunt trauma with cricotracheal disruption, seven had a neoplasm, two had an inhalation burn, and two had idiopathic stenosis. In all cases, the anterior cricoid arch was completely resected and a submucosal segment of the posterior cricoid plate was partially resected. A posterior shell of cricoid plate was preserved in 21 patients with intact laryngeal nerve function. Postoperatively, a Montgomery T-tube was used to stent the anastomosis and subglottic area in ten patients, all of whom had residual injury or disease at or immediately below the level of the cords. The proximal arm of the T-tube was positioned above the vocal cords. The tube was removed within 1 month in eight patients and remained for 3 and 18 months in the other two. The extent of resection varied from 2.5 to 7 cm. Tension-relieving procedures were added in 13 cases. Fourteen patients have been followed longer than 5 years, and five patients for more than 10 years. A widely patent anastomosis was maintained in 26 patients. In two patients, a partial restenosis resulted in some limitations of exercise tolerance. Voice and exercise tolerance have not deteriorated with the passage of time. Recurrent laryngeal nerve function was completely preserved in 20 of the 21 patients whose nerve function was intact before operation.

Adolescent

Endobronchial polyposis secondary to thermal inhalational injury.

A 28-year-old man who sustained inhalational injury in a house fire developed symptoms of chronic cough and hemoptysis requiring bronchoscopy. Two months after the initial injury, numerous endobronchial polyps were found in the trachea and throughout the bronchial tree. His symptoms have subsequently improved over a six-month period while receiving steroid therapy. To our knowledge, this delayed complication of inhalational burn injury has not been previously reported.

Adult

Radionuclide lung scanning in the management of respiratory burns.

Soluble radioaerosols such as technetium-99m diethylene triamine pentacetate (DTPA) permit simple quantitative studies of alveolar-capillary permeability to be performed, since the submicronic aerosols are deposited mainly at the lung periphery and are cleared across the alveolar-capillary membrane. Regional alterations in permeability can also be noted using this radionuclide technique. We have measured the alteration in pulmonary epithelial permeability in normal subjects and in patients with inhalation burns using a computer-linked gamma-camera. In the normal volunteers, the time taken for 50% of inhaled Tc-99m DTPA to be cleared from the lungs (T1/2) was 66 minutes +/- 1sd of 12 minutes. In the 42 patients with inhalation burns, besides the T1/2, retention images of uncleared Tc-99m DTPA in the lungs were obtained to note regional differences, if any, in lung clearance arising from pulmonary epithelial damage; these patients showed increased rate of clearance (short T1/2) with mean T1/2 of 36 minutes +/- 1sd of 11 minutes, while the retention images revealed regional lung damage in moderately severe inhalation burns. In 18 patients with abnormal T1/2, 16 (89%) had abnormal bronchoscopy findings. Fifteen patients also had lung perfusion scans with Tc-99m MAA (macroaggregated albumin). The regional defects in perfusion when present were generally matched with the defects seen on ventilation scans. The Tc-99m DTPA lung clearance measurement and imaging has clinical usefulness in suspected inhalation burns.

Accidents, Occupational

Fluid requirements of patients with burns and inhalation injuries in an intensive care unit.

We have studied 9 patients with burns (20%-75%) who had inhalation injuries and compared their actual fluid requirements with their requirements calculated from the Muir and Barclay formula. All patients were resuscitated with plasma protein fraction at a rate sufficient to keep their physiological variables within the following range: heart rate less than 120/min, central venous pressure 8-12 cm H2O, urine output greater than 30-50 ml/h, systolic blood pressure greater than 90 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure greater than 60 mm Hg. The amount of plasma protein fraction needed was 4.38 +/- 1.26 ml/kg/% burn in the first 24 h and 2.15 +/- 0.97 ml/kg/% burn in the second 24 h. This is an increase of 75% and 110% respectively above values predicted from the formula. We suggest that the observed difference is due to a combination of the presence of an inhalation injury which increases fluid requirements by approximately 30% in the first 24 h and the use of plasma protein fraction rather than the dried plasma used in the original Muir and Barclay formula.

Adult

Serum calcitonin may be a marker for inhalation injury in burns.

One of the principal causes of death from burns is inhalation injury. The pulmonary neuroendocrine cell contains and secretes immunoreactive calcitonin (iCT), and, under the influence of various irritative stimuli, can be induced to secrete iCT in excess. A prospective study of serum iCT levels in 41 patients with burns was undertaken. Mean serum iCT levels were four times normal values at the time of admission and reached 31 times normal values by 24 hours after injury. These levels did not correlate specifically with burn size. However, serum iCT had a very strong positive correlation with mortality, and in addition, was highest in patients who died early after injury compared with those who died late after injury. Patients who were clinically suspected to have pulmonary injury and who died had markedly higher levels of iCT than those who survived. In addition, serum iCT correlated positively with the need for mechanical ventilation and the amount of pulmonary shunting. Although other factors may also play a role in hypercalcitoninemia, serum iCT may be an important marker for the presence of inhalation injury, as well as a prognostic indicator.

Adult