Affiliations: [a] Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Carl Gustav Carus University Hospital, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| [b] Department of Radiopharmaceutical and Chemical Biology, Institute of Radiopharmaceutical Cancer Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Dresden, Germany
| [c] Department of Chemistry and Food Chemistry, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Torsten Richter, M.D., Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, University Hospital Technische Universität Dresden, Fetscherstrasse 74, 01307 Dresden, Germany. Tel.: +49 351 4584110; Fax: +49 351 4584336; E-mail: torsten.richter@uniklinikum-dresden.de.
Abstract: Aspiration of low-pH gastric fluid leads to an initial pneumonitis, which may become complicated by subsequent pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome. Current treatment is at best supportive, but there is growing experimental evidence on the significant contribution of both neutrophils and platelets in the development of this inflammatory pulmonary reaction, a condition that can be attenuated by several medicinal products. This review aims to summarize novel findings in experimental models on pathomechanisms after an acid-aspiration event. Given the clinical relevance, specific emphasis is put on deduced potential experimental therapeutic approaches, which make use of the characteristic alteration of microcirculation in the injured lung.
