Severe Burns Can Cause Kidney Injury and Kidney Failure

Here is an informative article for anyone who suffers injuries from severe burns–not just soldiers who are burned in combat:

Many American soldiers who suffer burns during combat develop acute kidney injury–an abrupt or rapid decline in kidney function that is potentially deadly. That’s the finding of a study that looked at acute kidney injury among 692 U.S. military casualties who were evacuated from Iraq and Afghanistan to burn units.

Using two different classification systems, the researchers found that rates of acute kidney injury were 24 percent and 30 percent among the casualties. What’s more, those with acute kidney injury were much more likely to die than those without it. Death rates among patients with moderate forms of kidney problems were 21 to 33 percent, while severe forms of the condition were made the death rate a whopping 63 to 65 percent. In comparison, the death rate for patients who did not have acute kidney injury was 0.2 percent.

Among those with kidney injury, 58 percent were diagnosed when they were admitted to hospital, which suggests their injury was caused by combat-related factors. But here is a key statistic: Complications from hospitalization were the likely cause of acute kidney injury among the 18 percent of patients who developed the condition after the first week in the burn unit.

“Our research shows that if a wounded warrior develops kidney damage, he or she is at an increased risk of dying,” Captain Ian Stewart, U.S. Air Force physician at the San Antonio Military Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, said in a news release. “By preventing or modifying kidney injury, we may be able to improve survival in personnel with burns and/or other traumatic injury,” he added.

The full study appeared online as of December 8 in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. For more information about the effect of burn injuries on the kidneys, visit the web site for the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

If you or someone you know does suffer any type of injury due to severe burns or smoke inhalation, you should call Kramer & Pollack LLP in Mineola, New York so that the personal injury attorneys in that firm can determine whether another party has legal liability for injuries suffered, and if the injured party has a solid legal case.