• K M Cross, L Leonardi, J R Payette, M Gomez, M A Levasseur, B J Schattka, M G Sowa, and J S Fish.
• Ross Tilley Burn Centre, Sunnybrook & Women's College Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
• Wound Repair Regen. 2007 May 1;15(3):332-40.

AbstractThe diagnosis of burn depth is based on a visual assessment and can be subjective. Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopic devices were used preclinically with positive results. The purpose of this study was to test the devices in a clinical setting using easily identifiable burn wounds. Adult patients with acute superficial and full-thickness burns were enrolled. NIR point spectroscopy and imaging devices were used to collect hemodynamic data from the burn site and an adjacent unburned control site. Oxy-hemoglobin and deoxy-hemoglobin concentrations were extracted from spectroscopic data and reported as oxygen saturation and total hemoglobin. Sixteen patients (n=16) were included in the study with equal numbers in both burn wound groups. Point spectroscopy data showed an increase in oxygen saturation (p<0.0095) and total hemoglobin (<0.0001) in comparison with the respective control areas for superficial burn wounds. The opposite was true for full-thickness burns, which showed a decrease in oxygenation (p<0.0001) and total hemoglobin (p<0.0147) in comparison with control areas. NIR imaging technology provides an estimate of hemodynamic parameters and could easily distinguish superficial and full-thickness burn wounds. These results confirm that NIR devices can successfully distinguish superficial and full-thickness burn injuries.

12 keywords...

hide…