title: [Analysis of respiratory complications in 922 severely burned patients].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To discuss the distribution of the respiratory complications in severely burned patients and the prevention and treatment experience against them.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical records of 922 adult patients with severe or extremely severe burn hospitalized in our burn ICU from January 2005 to December 2012 were screened and retrospectively analyzed, including patients transferred from other hospitals, patients with total burn area above 50% TBSA, the distribution and treatment of respiratory complications, and the mortality. Data were processed with chi-square test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The constituent ratio of patients transferred to our hospital was 71.1% in 2007 and 40.2% in 2010, while it remained about 50.0% in the other years. The ratios of patients with total burn area larger than 50% TBSA and that of patients with respiratory complications (χ(2) = 2.637, P > 0.05) showed no significant changes each year. Among these 922 burn patients, 523 patients suffered respiratory complications, among which laryngeal edema (50.9%, 266 cases), pulmonary infection (21.6%, 113 cases), and ARDS (11.9%, 62 cases) were the main components, with no significant change each year (with χ(2) values respectively 6.132, 6.319, 0.016, P values above 0.05). Among the patients with respiratory complications, except for 36 were not treated actively, 487 were treated by ventilator among which 228 had undergone tracheostomy, and the constituent ratios in the 8 years were close. Fifteen patients died, with 2 died of laryngeal edema, 3 of ARDS, and 10 of sepsis or MODS as a result of sepsis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with severe burns were at high risk of respiratory complications, among which laryngeal edema was common, followed by pulmonary infection and ARDS. Prophylactic tracheostomy, mechanical ventilation, wound therapy, and anti-infection were all effective measures of prevention and treatment against these complications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, Guangzhou Red Cross Hospital, Ji'nan University, Guangzhou 510220, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, Guangzhou Red Cross Hospital, Ji'nan University, Guangzhou 510220, China. Email: lixj64@163.com.
authors.forename: Xiaojian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, Guangzhou Red Cross Hospital, Ji'nan University, Guangzhou 510220, China.
authors.forename: Zhongyuan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, Guangzhou Red Cross Hospital, Ji'nan University, Guangzhou 510220, China.
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, Guangzhou Red Cross Hospital, Ji'nan University, Guangzhou 510220, China.
authors.forename: Wenbin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, Guangzhou Red Cross Hospital, Ji'nan University, Guangzhou 510220, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, Guangzhou Red Cross Hospital, Ji'nan University, Guangzhou 510220, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.affiliation: Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, Guangzhou Red Cross Hospital, Ji'nan University, Guangzhou 510220, China.
authors.forename: Menglong
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002056:Burns / Q000150:complications* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007819:Laryngeal Edema / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D008168:Lung / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012121:Respiration, Artificial; D012128:Respiratory Distress Syndrome / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018805:Sepsis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D016896:Treatment Outcome