Surprising finding in burn patients

CHICAGO, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Burn patients who died from their injuries had lower inflammatory responses in their lungs than patients who survived, U.S. researchers say.

First author Dr. Christopher S. Davis of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine's Burn & Shock Trauma Institute and Elizabeth J. Kovacs, director of research of the Burn & Shock Trauma Institute, tracked 60 burn patients in Loyola's Burn Center.

As expected, patients with the worst combined burn and smoke-inhalation injuries required more time on the ventilator, in the intensive care unit and in the hospital, and were more likely to die -- although this finding fell just short of being statistically significant, the researchers said.

Patients who died were older and had larger injuries than patients who survived, Davis said.

However, the immune system findings were unexpected. Researchers measured concentrations of 28 immune system modulators in fluid collected from the lungs of patients within 14 hours of burn and smoke-inhalation injuries.

Modulators are proteins produced by white blood cells and other cells, including those that line the airway that help the repair process after tissue injury.

Based on studies conducted at Loyola and other centers, Davis and Kovacs expected to find higher concentrations of modulators in patients who died, because sicker patients tend to have more active inflammatory responses, but they found just the opposite.

The findings are published in the Journal of Burn Care & Research.