Burn injury leads to hypovolemic then distributive shock. Fluid resuscitation remains the cornerstone of initial treatment of burn shock. However, fluid rescucitation can lead to fluid overload, which manifests most notably as lung edema.

The peptide NT-pro-BNP, a biomarker of cardiac congestion secreted by the myocardium, as well as plasma CD146, an endothelial factor involved in angiogenesis and a marker of vascular congestion, may help identifying patients with risk of pulmonary edema and hypoxia .

Our hypothesis is that these biomarkers may predict the occurence of pulmonary edema in severe burns patients.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Intubated mechanically-ventilated patients within the first 24 hours of admission
• And/or patients with total body surface area (TBSA) burn-injured >20 %
• And/or patients with at least 10% full-thickness burns
• And/or receiving vasopressors within the first 24 hours of admission
• And monitored by a PiCCO system (PiCCO-2 Pulsion Medical Systems AG, Munich, Germany)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Admission delay to ICU > 24 hours post burn
• Age less than 18 years
• Pregnancy
• Chronic renal impairment with a baseline eGFR < 15 ml/min
• Patients with chemical or electrical burns
• Coexisting non-burn trauma
• Patients moribund on admission or dead within 72 h from admission
• Patients with do-not-resuscitate orders

Severely ill burn patients admitted to a tertiary referral burn center