Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Inhalation Injuries
Inhalation injuries are acute injuries to your respiratory system and lungs. They can happen if you breathe in toxic substances, such as smoke (from fires), chemicals, particle pollution, and gases. Inhalation injuries can also be caused by extreme heat; these are a type of thermal injuries. Over half of deaths from fires are due to inhalation injuries.
Symptoms of inhalation injuries can depend on what you breathed in. But they often include:
- Coughing and phlegm
- A scratchy throat
- Irritated sinuses
- Shortness of breath
- Chest pain or tightness
- Headaches
- Stinging eyes
- A runny nose
If you have a chronic heart or lung problem, an inhalation injury can make it worse.
To make a diagnosis, your health care provider may use a scope to look at your airways and check for damage. Other possible tests include imaging tests of the lungs, blood tests, and lung function tests.
If you have an inhalation injury, your health care provider will make sure that your airway is not blocked. Treatment is with oxygen therapy, and in some cases, medicines. Some patients need to use a ventilator to breathe. Most people get better, but some people have permanent lung or breathing problems. Smokers and people who had a severe injury are at a greater risk of having permanent problems.
You can take steps to try to prevent inhalation injuries:
- At home, practice fire safety, which includes preventing fires and having a plan in case there is a fire
- If there is smoke from a wildfire nearby or lots of particulate pollution in the air, try to limit your time outdoors. Keep your indoor air as clean as possible, by keeping windows closed and using an air filter. If you have asthma, another lung disease, or heart disease, follow your health care provider's advice about your medicines and respiratory management plan.
- If you are working with chemicals or gases, handle them safely and use protective equipment
It sits within Lungs and Breathing and Injuries and Wounds.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Inhalation Injuries
297 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Inhalation Aromatherapy for Patients Undergoing Conservative Sharp Wound Debridement:Singapore General Hospital
- Effect of Pulmonary Rehabilitation on Respiratory Parameters in Upper Extremity BurnsFenerbahce University
- Foreign-National Burn Patients in a Border-Region Burn CenterGaziantep City Hospital
- Inhaled Nitric Oxide for Microvascular Dysfunction in Traumatic Brain InjuryUniversity of Pennsylvania
- Low Volume Nose Resistance Breathing Exercise With Incentive Spirometer in Patient With Cervical Spinal Cord InjuriesRiphah International University
- A Single Dose, Dose Escalation Clinical Trial on the Safety, Tolerability and Efficacy of Lyophilized Powder for Inhalation of Recombinant Human Keratinocyte Growth Factor-2 (Rh-KGF-2) in The Treatment of Patients With Acute Respiratory Distress SyndromeShanghai Zhongshan Hospital
Research already completed
- Reversibility of Bronchial Obstruction in Children Born PretermCharles University, Czech Republic
- Burn Mortality Prediction ScoresGaziantep City Hospital
- Intraoperative Oxygen Concentration on Incidence of Surgical Site InfectionAssiut University
- Slow Yogic-Derived Breathing and Respiration and Cardiovascular Variability in Spinal Cord Injury PatientsSpaulding Rehabilitation Hospital
- Renal Transplantation and Inhaled Anesthetic Sevoflurane (SEVOREIN)University Hospital, Bordeaux
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Learn More
- Air PollutantsCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
- How Wildfire Smoke Affects Your BodyCenters for Disease Control and Prevention
- Lung problems and volcanic smogMedical Encyclopedia
- Particulate Matter (PM) PollutionEnvironmental Protection Agency
- Respirator Types and UseNational Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
- Smoke InhalationMerck & Co., Inc.
- Wildfires: What Parents Need to KnowAmerican Academy of Pediatrics
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Burns, Inhalation. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Inhalation Injuries, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.