Despite over 40 years of investigation, acute lung injury (ALI) remains a leading cause of morbidity in critically ill patients, and a disease for which there is no effective pharmacologic therapy. Our group and others have focused on the anti-inflammatory effects of intravenous hypertonic saline (HTS) acting on the injured endothelium with promising results experimentally, but failed to confirm the benefit clinically. Recent work, however, has shown that inhaled or nebulized HTS targeted at the epithelium is safe and effective in treating cystic fibrosis, COPD, and neonatal bronchiolitis. Recognizing the central role of the pulmonary epithelium in ALI, nebulization has the advantage of achieving high concentrations of the therapy without producing systemic side effects. Thus, we hypothesize that nebulized hypertonic saline will attenuate acute lung injury following trauma.
