Abstract

OLGUIN, F. et al. Study of gastric and intestinal barrier function and its temporal evolution in burn patients. Cir. plást. iberolatinoam. [online]. 2007, vol.33, n.4, pp.203-207. ISSN 1989-2055.

Gut barrier function is impaired in burn patients, leading to increased odds of bacterial penetration and resulting in multiple organic failure. It is unknown how long does it take to the normalization of the gut barrier, nor the gastric barrier. The purpose of our study is trying to answer those questions, analyzing the rate of gastric permeability and gut barrier normalization in this kind of patients  We studied 15 burn patients, 10 males and 5 females, with medium burn total body surface of 18%(+/-7,4) , with 2nd and 3rd degree burn injuries according to the Converse Smith classification, hospitalized within the first 24 hours of injury. Gastric and intestinal permeability were measured in 24h, and days 3rd, 7th, 14th and 21st after injury and compared with 18 normal patients as controls. Sacarose excretion on admission was 94,6 (44,7-198,3 mg), 5 times higher than controls; these levels decreased within the 3 weeks of the study, but never reached the levels of the controls subjects. In contrast, the rate lactulose/manitol, 0,080 (0,042-0,153%) was 4 times higher than controls on day 1st, but reached normal levels after 2 weeks. The levels of sacarose and lactulose/manitol were not related to burn total body surface.  There is a strong correlation between gastric and gut permeability in burn patients. The intestinal permeability takes about 2 weeks to begin to normalize, and the gastric permeability improves but did not normalize during the 3 week duration of this study.

Keywords : Burns; burns complications; gastric permeability.

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