Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences
 

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THE EFFECTS OF INTRAVENOUS GLUTAMINE SUPPLEMENTATION IN SEVERELY BURNED, MULTIPLE TRAUMATIZED PATIENTS

IOANA CUCEREANU-BĂDICĂ1, IRINA LUCA1, SIMONA NEGREŞ2*, IOANA GRINŢESCU1, IOAN LASCĂR3

1“Floreasca” Emergency Hospital, Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Bucharest
2 Department of Pharmacology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” Bucharest
3 “Floreasca” Emergency Hospital, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

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The severely burned patient is the most demanding patient from the metabolic point of view. The catabolic response is impressive - the most dramatic from all pathologies - and the body reacts by breaking down the skeletal muscle. Glutamine is the most abundant aminoacid with numerous functions in the body and even if it is not recognized as an essential amino acid in severely burned patients it becomes conditionally essential. Glutamine has many important functions in metabolism, in immune function, in wound healing and gut integrity. It is the preferred fuel for cells with high rate mitosis like immune cells, pulmonary alveolar cells and enterocytes. A number of studies attempted to analyze the efficacy of glutamine supplementation in severely burned patients. This study is a prospective, randomized one, performed on 47 patients with severe burns admitted in the Emergency Clinical Hospital of Bucharest, Romania, from 2005 to 2011, trying to assess the effects of intravenous glutamine supplementation.