Management of necrotising fasciitis within a burns centre: do outcomes differ?

Introduction: Many similarities exist between the care of necrotising fasciitis (NF) and burn injury patients. Each group represents a small but complex cohort requiring multiple theatre trips, specialist reconstruction, meticulous wound care and multidisciplinary management. Over a six-year period, we sought to examine the clinical outcomes of NF patients managed within a burns centre against those managed by a plastic surgery service.

Methods: A retrospective case-note review was performed for all identifiable patients referred to our institution's designated burns centre or plastic surgery service between 2008-2014. Patient characteristics, length of stay, wound-related and clinical outcomes were extracted and descriptively presented with statistical analysis performed for survival and length of stay.

Results: Twenty-nine patients were included in the study (burns centre [B]: 17 patients; plastic surgery service [P]: 12 patients). Median total length of stay (B: 37 vs. P: 50 days, P=0.38), local length of stay (27 vs. 19 days, P=0.29) and survival till discharge (94.4% vs. 100%, P=0.73) demonstrated no statistically significant difference.

Conclusion: Caring for NF patients within a burns centre facilitated easier access to specialist reconstructive expertise and multidisciplinary care but did not lead to statistically significant differences in length of stay or survival. The management of NF within a burns centre facilitated provision of high-quality care to a highly challenging patient group.