title: No correlation between initial arterial carboxyhemoglobin level and degree of lung injury following ovine burn and smoke inhalation.
abstract: Fire victims often suffer from burn injury and concomitant inhalation trauma, the latter significantly contributing to the morbidity and mortality in these patients. Measurement of blood carboxyhemoglobin levels has been proposed as a diagnostic marker to verify and, perhaps, quantify the degree of lung injury following inhalation trauma. However, this correlation has not yet been sufficiently validated. A total of 77 chronically instrumented sheep received sham injury, smoke inhalation injury, or combined burn and inhalation trauma following an established protocol. Arterial carboxyhemoglobin concentrations were determined directly after injury and correlated to several clinical and histopathological determinants of lung injury that were detected 48 hours post-injury. The injury induced severe impairment of pulmonary gas exchange and increases in transvascular fluid flux, lung water content, and airway obstruction scores. No significant correlations were detected between initial carboxyhemoglobin levels and all measured clinical and histopathological determinants of lung injury. In conclusion, the amount of arterial carboxyhemoglobin concentration cannot predict the degree of lung injury at 48 hours after ovine burn and smoke inhalation trauma.
authors.affiliation: 1Investigational Intensive Care Unit, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Texas Medical Branch and Shriners Burns Hospital for Children , Galveston, Texas , USA.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lange
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.forename: Daniel L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Traber
authors.forename: Atsumori
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hamahata
authors.forename: Yoshimitsu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.forename: Lillian D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Traber
authors.forename: Perenlei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Enkhbaatar
mesh_terms: D055371:Acute Lung Injury / Q000097:blood* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D002263:Carboxyhemoglobin / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology*; D012756:Sheep; D015208:Smoke Inhalation Injury / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D002263:Carboxyhemoglobin