Fire victims often suffer from
burn injury and concomitant inhalation
trauma, the latter significantly contributing to the morbidity and mortality in these patients. Measurement of blood
carboxyhemoglobin levels has been proposed as a diagnostic marker to verify and, perhaps, quantify the degree of
lung injury following inhalation
trauma. However, this correlation has not yet been sufficiently validated. A total of 77 chronically instrumented sheep received
sham injury, smoke inhalation injury, or combined
burn and inhalation
trauma following an established protocol. Arterial
carboxyhemoglobin concentrations were determined directly after injury and correlated to several clinical and histopathological determinants of
lung injury that were detected 48 hours post-injury. The injury induced severe impairment of pulmonary gas exchange and increases in transvascular fluid flux, lung water content, and
airway obstruction scores. No significant correlations were detected between initial
carboxyhemoglobin levels and all measured clinical and histopathological determinants of
lung injury. In conclusion, the amount of arterial
carboxyhemoglobin concentration cannot predict the degree of
lung injury at 48 hours after ovine
burn and
smoke inhalation
trauma.