Selective Digestive Decontamination Attenuates Organ Dysfunction in Critically Ill Burn Patients

Objective: To evaluate whether selective decontamination of the digestive tract (SDD) attenuates organ dysfunction in critically ill burn patients. Background: The effect of SDD on the development and progression of organ dysfunction, as an important determinant of mortality in burned patients, is still unknown. We asked whether organ dysfunction is mitigated by treatment with SDD. Methods: Patients with burns >20% of total body surface or suspected inhalation injury from a randomized placebo-controlled trial were analyzed to determine the relationship between treatment received (placebo or SDD) and the severity of organ dysfunction as measured by the area under the curve of the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score (and its individual components) from day 1 to day 7 of admission. Results: One hundred seven patients (53 in the SDD group and 54 in the placebo group) were included. Survival was significantly higher in SDD-treated patients (48 of 53, 90.6%) than in placebo-treated patients (39 of 54, 72.2%, P = 0.013). Total (P < 0.01) and respiratory (P < 0.01), cardiovascular (P = 0.04) and hematological (not reaching statistical significance, P = 0.07) organ dysfunction was associated with mortality after adjusting for predicted mortality. In multivariate logistic regression, SDD treatment was independently associated with total (P < 0.01), respiratory (P = 0.02), and hematological (P < 0.01) dysfunction over the first week postinjury. Conclusions: The beneficial effect of SDD on mortality in critically ill burned patients is accompanied by a reduction in the degree of organ dysfunction. SDD seems to be a valuable therapeutic strategy to prevent organ dysfunction and, more specifically, respiratory and hematological dysfunction in severely ill burn patients.