Exploring New Solutions for Inhalation Injury Recovery

Shriners Children’s Texas is embarking on an important new research study that could help improve care for children with inhalation injuries. This study has been designed to explore the potential benefits of a drug called racemic epinephrine for patients experiencing these life-threatening conditions.

Inhalation injuries occur from exposure to smoke, toxic gases or extreme heat, such as in a house fire. The injuries worsen quickly, leading to conditions like respiratory distress, which requires immediate medical intervention.

Jamie Mehrer, clinical research program coordinator at Shriners Children’s Texas, said her team will be looking at how racemic epinephrine, a drug already approved by the FDA, specifically helps patients recover quicker. Racemic epinephrine is a form of adrenaline that helps open the airways, allowing patients to breathe easier. This drug is often used in emergencies to treat allergic reactions, but Shriners Children’s Texas is investigating how effective it is for patients with inhalation injuries.

“This study is all about making sure we’re using the best tools to help these children recover,” Mehrer explained. “We want to see if administering racemic epinephrine improves their outcomes – if they recover faster, or experience fewer complications.”

Notably, this study builds on a pilot clinical trial conducted at Shriners Children’s Texas in 2017, where racemic epinephrine was given to a small group of patients with inhalation injuries. “The results from that early trial suggested we needed to do a larger study to see if the drug could really make a difference for more patients, and that’s exactly what we’re doing now,” Jamie said.

The new study will analyze data from patients who were treated for inhalation injuries at Shriners Children’s Texas between 2019 and 2024. Some of these patients were given racemic epinephrine, while others were not, depending on the judgment of their medical team. By comparing the outcomes of these two groups, the researchers hope to identify patterns that could lead to the development of a new protocol for treating inhalation injuries.

“Right now, there’s no clear protocol that says racemic epinephrine should always be administered for these injuries,” Jamie explained. “But if we find that the patients who received it had better outcomes, we could recommend that it becomes part of our standard of care. That could have a huge impact on how we treat these kids in the future.”

This research poses no additional risk to patients because the team is using data that has already been collected. Racemic epinephrine is already a well-established treatment, so the study is simply evaluating its effectiveness.

“This is considered a minimal-risk study,” Jamie said. “We’re not testing an experimental drug or exposing the kids to anything new. We’re looking back at what’s already been done to see if we can improve how we care for them going forward.”

The study is part of a larger push at Shriners Children’s to ensure that patient care is grounded in evidence-based practice. This approach helps doctors and clinicians continuously improve treatments rather than relying on methods that may be outdated.

“What worked four years ago might not be the best option today,” Jamie explained. “There’s always room for improvement.” As this study moves forward, the team is hopeful that their findings could be shared across the Shriners Children’s healthcare system and even at medical conferences, helping to improve care for children everywhere.

“We’re excited to see what the data reveals,” Jamie said. “If we can show that racemic epinephrine makes a real difference, we’ll be able to help even more kids recover from these devastating inhalation injuries.”