Fluid creep: the pendulum hasn't swung back yet!

Abstract

Fluid creep was recognized nearly a decade ago. Although many burn centers are now aware of fluid creep, it is not clear whether any reversal of this phenomenon has occurred. The purpose of this study was to examine whether we have made any headway in reversing fluid creep at our facility. This is a retrospective review of the first 48 hours of fluid resuscitation using the Parkland formula among patients with >/=15% TBSA burns admitted to our adult regional burn centre (BC) between January 1, 2000, and May 30, 2008. All values are reported as the mean +/- SD. There were 196 consecutive resuscitations available for analysis. Group characteristics were age 46 +/- 18 years, burn size 31% +/- 15% (range 15-81%), and full-thickness burn size 13% +/- 16%, with a 26% incidence of inhalation injury. The delay between injury and BC admission was 4.5 +/- 2.6 hours. During this time, a total crystalloid volume of 1.5 +/- 1.0 ml/kg/%burn, or nearly 40% of the recommended 24-hour Parkland volume, was administered. Total crystalloids given in the first 24 hours (prior to and within the BC) were 6.3 +/- 2.9 ml/kg/%TBSA, with 76% of all resuscitations receiving >4.3 ml/kg/%burn (the upper limit predicted by Baxter). Hourly urine output (UO) in the first 24 hours postburn was 1.2 +/- 0.7 ml/kg/h. There were minimal insignificant downward trends in the volume of resuscitation fluids and the mean hourly UO of the 194 cases over the 8-year period of the study. In contrast, use of colloids (5% albumin) and formal measurement of intraabdominal pressures increased during the same time period. Despite awareness of fluid creep, we have not substantially reversed this phenomenon, primarily because of failure to titrate down fluid infusion rates and by accepting higher than recommended UO. Excessive pre-BC fluid also continues to be a contributing factor.