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The effect of ibuprofen on postburn metabolic and immunologic function
1Shriners Burns Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio 45219.
Patients suffering severe trauma, including thermal injuries, demonstrate both a hypermetabolic response and an immunosuppressed state following the injury. Biochemically, these patients produce extremely large amounts of cyclooxygenase products, including prostaglandin E. We have investigated the effect of a drug, ibuprofen, which blocks the synthesis of prostaglandins in a burned rat model. Ibuprofen at high doses was found to significantly diminish the hypermetabolic response to burn injury and sepsis. The same dosage of ibuprofen increased the mortality rate in the same burn sepsis model. Prostaglandin E may therefore exert some beneficial effects in traumatized patients by altering their metabolism.
Patients suffering severe trauma, including thermal injuries, demonstrate both a hypermetabolic response and an immunosuppressed state following the injury. Biochemically, these patients produce extremely large amounts of cyclooxygenase products, including prostaglandin E. We have investigated the effect of a drug, ibuprofen, which blocks the synthesis of prostaglandins in a burned rat model. Ibuprofen at high doses was found to significantly diminish the hypermetabolic response to burn injury and sepsis. The same dosage of ibuprofen increased the mortality rate in the same burn sepsis model. Prostaglandin E may therefore exert some beneficial effects in traumatized patients by altering their metabolism.