Effects of corticosteroids in the treatment of patients with gastric aspiration.

Forty-three of 88 patients suspected of having aspirated gastric contents met stringent criteria for the diagnosis of aspiration of gastric contents. One group of 25 patients was treated with corticosteroids and a second group of 18 patients was treated without corticosteroids. The two groups were clinically well matched according to all variables except that the patients who did not receive corticosteroids had greater hypoxemia and a higher incidence of infiltration on chest roentgenogram which would indicate that these patients had received greater pulmonary injury from aspiration of gastric contents. Thirty-two per cent of the patients who received steroids died compared to 28 per cent of those who did not receive steroids. Although the mortality rate difference was not statistically significant, the occurrence of gram-negative pneumonia five days after aspiration was more frequent in the patients treated with steroids.