Diagnosis and management of inhalation injury

Abstract

Approximately 10–20 % of patients admitted to burn centers in the U. S. are diagnosed with inhalation injury, and the incidence of inhalation injury is directly related to burn size [1]. Inhalation injury, along with age and total body surface area (TBSA) burn, is also one of the factors contributing to the morbidity and mortality of patients with burn injury; inhalation injury has been reported to increase mortality two-fold [2–5]. The accurate and timely diagnosis of inhalation injury is key to predicting and improving outcomes for the patient with burn injury. One of the major challenges in the diagnosis of inhalation injury is that exposure to smoke and heat result in nonhomogeneous injuries that vary by location and type of insult. Hence, inhalation injury is a term used to define multiple different types of airway injury, each of which has unique diagnostic and treatment implications. The purpose of this article is to describe the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of the different forms of inhalation injury.