Critical care clinics
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Fluid creep is the term applied to a burn resuscitation, which requires more fluid than predicted by standard formulas. Fluid creep is common today and is linked to several serious edema-related complications. Increased fluid requirements may accompany the appropriate resuscitation of massive injuries but dangerous fluid creep is also caused by overly permissive fluid infusion and the lack of colloid supplementation. Several strategies for recognizing and treating fluid creep are presented.
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The inflammatory state after burn injury is characterized by an increase in capillary permeability that results in protein and fluid leakage into the interstitial space, increasing resuscitative requirements. Although the mechanisms underlying increased capillary permeability are complex, damage from reactive oxygen species plays a major role and has been successfully attenuated with antioxidant therapy in several disease processes. However, the utility of antioxidants in burn treatment remains unclear. Vitamin C is a promising antioxidant candidate that has been examined in burn resuscitation studies and shows efficacy in reducing the fluid requirements in the acute phase after burn injury.
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Colloids have been used in varying capacities throughout the history of formula-based burn resuscitation. There is sound experimental evidence that demonstrates colloids' ability to improve intravascular colloid osmotic pressure, expand intravascular volume, reduce resuscitation requirements, and limit edema in unburned tissue following a major burn. Fresh frozen plasma appears to be a useful and effective immediate burn resuscitation fluid but its benefits must be weighed against its costs, and risks of viral transmission and acute lung injury. Albumin, in contrast, is less expensive and safer and has demonstrated ability to reduce resuscitation requirements and possibly limit edema-related morbidity.
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This article discusses commonly used methods of monitoring and determining the end points of resuscitation. Each end point of resuscitation is examined as it relates to use in critically ill burn patients. ⋯ Specific goals were a detailed examination of each method in the critical care population and how this methodology can be used in the burn patient. Although burn resuscitation is monitored and administered using the methodology as seen in medical/surgical intensive care settings, special consideration for excessive edema formation, metabolic derangements, and frequent operative interventions must be considered.
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More than 4 decades after the creation of the Brooke and Parkland formulas, burn practitioners still argue about which formula is the best. So it is no surprise that there is no consensus about how to resuscitate a thermally injured patient with a significant comorbidity such as heart failure or cirrhosis or how to resuscitate a patient after an electrical or inhalation injury or a patient whose resuscitation is complicated by renal failure. All of these scenarios share a common theme in that the standard rule book does not apply. All will require highly individualized resuscitations.