No influence of burn size on ventilator-associated pneumonia in burn patients with inhalation injury.

OBJECTIVE: Burn size and inhalation injury are important predictors of mortality following burn. The important factors for predicting ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) following burn remain unclear. The aim of our study was to investigate the effect of burn size on VAP in burn patients with inhalation injury.

METHODS: We retrospectively studied 52 burn patients with inhalation injury requiring mechanical ventilation admitted to the Department of Acute Medicine, Kawasaki Medical School Hospital, Okayama, Japan, between June 2007 and October 2010.

RESULTS: The overall mortality for all patients was 15%. Twenty-six patients (50%) developed VAP. Patients with VAP required longer ICU stay and mechanical ventilation than those without VAP. There was no difference in age, gender, mortality, and TBSA between burn patients with inhalation injury with and Without VAP. VAP rate had no difference with increasing TBSA in burn patients with inhalation injury.

CONCLUSIONS: Our data indicated that burn size had no relationship with the development of VAP in burn patients with inhalation injury.