European burn journal最新文献

Inhalation injury is a major contributor to mortality following burn injury. Despite recognised clinical criteria to guide the intubation of burn patients, concerns remain regarding overutilisation of intubation. Complications can arise as a result of intubation, including ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). This study reviews the indications for intubation against the internationally accepted criteria (American Burns Association (ABA) and Denver criteria) for burn patients treated at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) burns unit between 2017 and 2020. Burn patients who were intubated on arrival to the RAH or in a pre-hospital setting were identified using the BRANZ database. Indications for intubation were compared to the ABA and Denver criteria. A total of 61 patients were identified with a mean total body surface area of 17.8%. A total of 95% of patients met one of the ABA and Denver criteria. The most common ABA and Denver criteria for intubation was deep facial burns or singed facial hair, respectively. Most adult patients with burns admitted to the RAH are intubated per published criteria. Early nasoendoscopy/bronchoscopy may be useful in determining patients who can be safely extubated within 48 h.

Burns and scarring are considered some of the greatest problems in public health because of their frequent occurrence. Today, photo-electric technology shows promising results in the treatment of burn scars. Over the years, more clinical trials and more technologies for scarring have emerged. The aim of this study was to determine better timing and methods of photo-electric therapy for burn scars. This study was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42023397244), following the PRISMA statement, and was carried out in concordance with the PRISMA checklist. In October 2022, we searched PubMed.gov, Embase, and the Cochrane library (1980-present) for published studies related to the photo-electric treatment of burn scars. Two review authors independently selected the studies, extracted the data, assessed the risk of bias among the studies included, and carried out NIH assessments to assess the certainty of the evidence. A third review author arbitrated any disagreements. Our research included 39 studies. We found evidence suggesting that photo-electric therapy between six months and one year offers significantly better outcomes than treatment of scarring after one year. The evidence also suggests the use of IPL for the treatment of early burn scarring. However, it is important to emphasize that the scientific evidence remains insufficient. We need more clinical trials of higher quality and with less heterogeneity to confirm our results.

Background: There is little evidence regarding the efficacy of Regenerative Epidermal Suspension (RES™) management for paediatric partial-thickness burns. The Biobrane^® RECELL^® Autologous skin Cell suspension and Silver dressings (BRACS) Trial evaluated three dressings for the re-epithelialisation of partial-thickness burns in children.

Methods: Eligible children (age ≤ 16 years; ≥5% TBSA; ≤48 h of injury) were randomised to silver dressings, RES™/Biobrane^® or Biobrane^®. The measured outcomes were the time to re-epithelialisation (primary outcome), pain, itch, intervention fidelity, treatment satisfaction, health-related quality of life, health resource utilisation and adverse effects.

Results: The median time to re-epithelialisation in days was no different for RES™/Biobrane^® at 12 (IQR: 5.6-18.4; n = 7) and slower by two days for Biobrane^® at 14 (IQR: 6.3-21.7; n = 7) when compared to silver dressings 12 (IQR: 3.7-20.3; n = 8). Reduced pain, fewer infections, no sepsis, no skin graft, and the lowest impact on health-related quality of life were reported in the RES™/Biobrane^® group compared to other groups. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, recruitment suspension resulted in a smaller cohort than expected and an underpowered study.

Conclusions: The pilot trial findings should be interpreted cautiously; however, they indicate that a fully powered randomised controlled trial is warranted to substantiate the role of RES™ for medium to large paediatric partial-thickness burn management.

Burn injuries are commonly treated with split-thickness skin grafting. However, low expansions offered by spilt-thickness skin grafting inhibit the treatment of large and severe burn injuries when limited donor skin is available. To overcome this gap, in this work, it was attempted to study the expansion potential of skin grafts with novel auxetic incisions with rotating rectangle (RR), honeycomb (HC), alternating slit (AS), H-shaped (HS), Y-shaped (YS), and I-shaped (IS) unit cells, through development of skin graft simulants. Clinically relevant biaxial load testing was conducted to estimate the stress-strain response, void area, and meshing ratio. Moreover, hyperelastic constitutive models were employed to characterize the non-linear biomechanical behavior of the skin graft simulants. The maximum void area increase was observed in the HS skin graft simulant, indicating low skin cover. Overall, the IS auxetic skin graft design exhibited meshing ratio higher than traditional grafts (>3:1), low void area and stresses, which can be beneficial for large skin cover and burn wound healing. With further optimization and clinical tests, the auxetic skin graft designs may find a place with the graft manufacturers for fabrication of grafts with better surgical outcomes for severe burn injuries.

The British National Burn Care Standards highlight the importance of routine psychosocial screening to optimise psychological well-being following burn injury. Routine screening enables clinicians to identify those who may benefit from further psychological intervention. In this case, we outline how active follow-up from routine psychosocial screening and early intervention supports psychological recovery from a burn injury and how multidisciplinary care can be incorporated into cognitive therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder. This case also illustrates how psychologists are well positioned within physical healthcare to notice themes arising in patient care and use this to inform service development, for example, through staff training.

Background: Frailty can have a negative influence on outcomes in elderly patients after burn injuries. The Dutch hospitals have used a four-domain frailty screening instrument from the Dutch Safety Management System (DSMS) since 2012. However, its feasibility and validity have hardly been studied. We aim to assess the feasibility and validity of frailty screening in specialized burn care. Methods: A multicentre retrospective cohort study was conducted in all Dutch burn centres. Patients aged ≥ 70, with a primary admission between 2012-2018, were included. Data were derived from electronic patient files. Results: In total, 515 patients were included. Frailty screening was complete in 39.6% and partially complete in 23.9%. Determinants for a complete screening were admission after 2015 (OR = 2.15, 95% CI 1.42-3.25) and lower percentage TBSA burned (OR = 0.12, 95% CI 0.05-029). In all completely screened patients, 49.9% were at risk of frailty. At risk patients were older, had more comorbidities (known group validity), a longer length of stay, and more frequently a non-home discharge (predictive validity). Conclusion: Frailty screening in specialized burn care is feasible and was conducted in 63.5% of admitted patients. In total, 44% of screened patients were at risk of frailty. Validity of frailty screening was confirmed. Frailty screening can contribute to optimal specialized burn care.

Background: Use of intravascular warming catheters following major burns has been shown to be effective to maintain normothermia, but their use may be associated with complications. The aim of this study was to determine what proportion of patients with an intravascular warming catheter developed a potentially catheter-related venous thromboembolism (VTE) and to identify contributing risk factors. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of patients admitted to the Victorian Adult Burns Service January 2013 to July 2018 with major burns (TBSA > 20%) who had an ICY^TM intravascular warming catheter. Warming catheter insertion and other details were identified with a manual search of the patients' medical records by a single author while incidence of VTE was determined by the coding department from a central database. Results: Forty patients had an intravascular warming catheter inserted during the study period. The number of patients in the catheter group that sustained a VTE was eight (20%), of which four (10%) could have been catheter-related due to the anatomical location. In the cases of the four potentially catheter-related VTE, other preventable VTE risk factors including suboptimal prophylactic anticoagulation (n = 2), prolonged catheter duration (n = 1) and prolonged haemoconcentration (n = 2) were identified. Conclusions: We found 20% of major burns patients with an intravascular warming device had significant VTE; however, only half of these may have been related to the catheter. A careful assessment for each patient that balances risks and benefits should be undertaken prior to using intravascular warming devices.

Nosocomial wound infections are a dreaded complication in patients with burns. However, access to the necessary microbiological diagnostics is impaired in low-resource settings. This prospective observational cohort study aimed to describe the bacterial pathogens, resistance profiles and clinical outcomes of patients with wound infections admitted to the largest specialized unit for burns and plastic surgery in Uganda. Blood and wound swab cultures were taken for bacterial species identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing. A total of 140 patients (female: n = 62, 44.3%) with a median age of 26 (IQR 7-35) years were included between October 2020 and April 2022, of which the majority (n = 101, 72.2%) had burn wounds (72.3% Grade 2b, 14.9% Grade 3). Gram-negative Enterobacterales, Pseudomonas spp. and Acinetobacter spp. were most commonly isolated from wound swabs and nearly all isolates were multidrug resistant with very limited treatment options. While the clinical outcome was favorable in 21 (15%) study participants, the majority were left with disabilities (minor: n = 41, 29.3%, moderate: n = 52, 37%, major: n = 14 (10%)). Twelve (8.6%) study participants died, mostly of Gram-negative sepsis. Our findings highlight the urgent need for routine access to microbiological diagnostics to improve patient care and local surveillance efforts on antimicrobial resistance.

The incidence of chemical burns appears to be increasing. Diphoterine is an amphoteric, chelating, polyvalent solution used for the decontamination of chemical splashes. In this systematic review, we aimed to assess the effect of diphoterine on chemical burns compared with water or no treatment. The primary endpoint was the depth of burn, and secondary outcomes included pain, duration of hospitalization, time to return to work, need for surgery, pH, and complications. PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were systematically searched using the terms "Diphoterine", "Previn", and ""Amphoteric solution" AND "burn"". A total of nine studies were included. One study evaluated the depth of chemical burns and found no difference between the diphoterine group and the control group. Four studies reported on pain, three of which found a more pronounced decrease in pain when using diphoterine compared to the control groups. Two studies found a significant neutralization of pH when using diphoterine. No differences were found for the remaining endpoints. Based on the very low certainty of evidence, this systematic review reports no observed difference between diphoterine and water or no treatment on the depth of a chemical burn. Diphoterine appeared to be associated with less pain and to have a neutralizing effect.

Over the past decades, long-term sequelae of burns have gained increasing attention. Women of childbearing age, who sustained abdominal burns earlier in life, may have unmet information needs on scar-related complications they can expect during pregnancy. We performed a review of the literature to identify abdominal, foetal, and potential other complications during pregnancy in women with abdominal burn scars. PubMed, Embase, and Scopus were searched from inception to 1 July 2020 and updated once on 23 April 2021 (PROSPERO CRD42022187883). Main search terms included pregnancy, scar, burns, and abdominal. Studies on burns obtained during pregnancy have been excluded. Screening, data extraction and bias assessment were conducted by two investigators. We included 22 studies comprising 217 patients. The time between burn injury and first pregnancy varied between 7 and 32 years. Most of the women had normal pregnancies regarding delivery mode and duration of pregnancy. The most reported abdominal burn scar complications were an increased feeling of tightness, itch, pain, and scar breakdown. In some cases, scar release surgery was performed during or prior to pregnancy. Some cases of foetal complications were described. Complications during pregnancy after abdominal burn scars may be limited. More quantitative and qualitative research is needed to assess the maternal and foetal outcomes and complications. The results may be used to inform women and contribute to personalised obstetric management.