First-day Computed Tomography: Does it Has a Role in the Assessment of Patients With Inhalation Lung Injury?

Overview

A major risk factor for death in burn victims is inhalation lung injury. Diagnostic criteria and severity grading are not well understood. After an inhalation injury, the mucociliary escalator is impaired by induced mucosal hyperemia, which includes Edema, increased mucous production, and airway exudation, and these insults worsen airway narrowing which interferes with ventilation. Multimodal therapy and quick bronchoscopic diagnosis improve patient outcomes. Early identification and classification of inhalation injuries improve patient outcomes. Chest CT may be employed as an alternative to or supplement to the bronchoscopy as well as a diagnostic and prognostic tool. In this study, the diagnostic and prognostic value of bronchial wall thickening as a radiological CT finding in inhalation lung damage and the radiologist score (RADS) were evaluated.

Forty-eight patients with inhalation lung injury were included in the study as the case group, and ten patients without ILI were chosen as the control group. Both groups were recruited from the burn and plastic department. A fiberoptic bronchoscope was performed during the first 12 hours of a suspected ILI to confirm the diagnosis. After performing an initial chest X-ray, computed tomography was used to calculate the radiologist score (RADS) and the thickness of the bronchial walls (BWT).

Conditions