Dexamethasone in the management of kerosene pneumonia.

The efficacy of steroids in the treatment of acute aspiration pneumonia, following intratracheal kerosene instillation in primates, was examined. Forty Chacma baboons were utilized in three groups: group I (normal animals), group II (animals receiving 0.3 ml/kg intratracheal kerosene alone, control group), and group III (animals receiving 0.3 ml/kg intratracheal kerosene plus pre- and posttreatment with 5 mg/kg IMI dexamethasone). The lungs from all animals were examined macroscopically and microscopically and their lung wet weight-dry weight and lung weight-body weight ratios determined. On all parameters utilized, the lungs from groups II and III were different from group I. No statistical difference, however, could be detected between values obtained from groups II and III. These data tend to support the contention that steroids, even when given early, and in large doses, in the course of kerosene pneumonitis, do not alter the acute inflammatory process that occurs.