Prediction of upper airway closure in inhalational injury

Inhalational injury is an imprecise term used to refer to a wide range of airway and pulmonary problems in the context of thermal injury. It markedly increases the mortality and morbidity of a given degree of cutaneous thermal injury. The incidence of proximal airway edema on the modern battlefield is likely to increase with the advent of enhanced blast and thermobaric weapons systems. Current military medical doctrine suggests that soldiers who are at risk of airway closure from edema should have a surgical airway provided. This in turn is likely to lead to complications in the hands of inexperienced nonsurgeons far-forward and a choking of the medical evacuation chain more rearward. This article examines the pathophysiology of inhalational injury and ways in which prediction of airway closure might be effected to prevent unnecessary surgical airway operations.