An evaluation on cases of children with pneumonia after taking hydrocarbon

Introduction and Aim: The pneumonia after uptake of hydrocarbons has a distinguieshed place in childhood pneumonia as it differs in terms of treatment and pathhogenesis and can be preventable. In this study, 54 children cases, who were treated for pneumonia after the hydrocarbon intake, were retrospectively reviewed between the years 2006-2010 at Pediatric Pulmonology Clinic of Dicle University Medical Faculty Hospital.Material and Methods: Patient files of 54 cases `which have a diagnosis of pneumonia that developed after the hydrocarbon uptake? were reviewed retrospectively. Age, gender, complaints, clinical, radiological and laboratory findings and treatment and prognostic characteristics of the cases were analyzed.Results: There were 35 (%64,8) male and 19 (%35,2) female cases aged between 1-5 years and the mean age was 2.49 ± 0.80 years. The etiological causes were respectively thinner %63, naptha %33 and kerosene %3,7. The time between `the exposure to factors that cause hydrocarbon pneumonia and onset of complaints? was found as same day for 49 (90.7%) patients. The mean hospital stay of patients was 4,0 ± 2,3 days and 6 patients were treated in the intensive care unit and one patient died of pneumonia developed after intake of kerosene. Inhaled corticosteroids was used in the treatment of 18 patients when the clinical status worsened and the inhaled salbutamol was used in the treatment of 16 patients presenting with signs of bronchospasm. Duration of hospital stay was found longer in patients with radiological findings at chest X-ray and auscultation findings in physical examination (p <0.05).Conclusion: In the prevention of chemical pneumonia, measures should be taken to prevent the intake of chemical substances in children under five years old . Although there are occasionally fatal cases, the results were satisfied in general with careful care and treatment. The positive results were achieved from this study group of patients with inhaled corticosteroids and salbutamol therapy.