Inhalation injuries Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Inhalation injuries - Research Paper Example Observed increase of cases had been observed in incidents related to fire such as the attack in the World Trade Center wherein 49% of the victims suffered inhalation injury. Based on the WHO data, more than 1 billion people suffer airway and pulmonary inflammation due to different forms of fires (Rehberg et al. 284). The process of heat generation in combustion that produces smoke can cause thermal injury in the upper airway. The soot referred to as particulate matters during combustion can clog and irritate the airways resulting to reflex bronchoconstriction. Other compounds in the form of gas can lead to different types of injury and asphyxiation such as carbon monoxide; hydrogen cyanide; aldehydes (from furniture and cotton); chlorine gas, ammonia, hydrocarbons acids and ketones (from rubber and plastics); and the most common component of smoke phosgene gas (Serebrisky, Nazarian and Connolly 1). The mechanism of the injury can be attributed to the component of the smoke. The effects of smoke inhalation are divided into the effects of the gas phase and the particle phase. Thus, different parts of the respiratory system can be affected by the different components of the smoke namely the upper airway, the tracheobronchial system or lower airway, lung parenchyma, and systemic toxicity. The three types of smoke inhalation injury are thermal injury due to cell injury and pulmonary parenchymal which commonly affects the upper airway, chemical irritation and hypoxemia of the respiratory tract and the systemic toxicity leading to organ damage due to the action of toxic gases (Rehberg et al. 284; Serebrisky, Nazarian and Connolly 1). There are different indications of inhalation injuries such as facial and neck burns, burned lips and vibrissae, soot-containing airway secretions, pathological respiration patterns such as coughing, stridor and hoarseness, dyspnea, cyanosis and neurological symptoms such as unconsciousness, dizziness, nausea and vomiting.