• Mariëlle E H Jaspers, Ludo van Haasterecht, van Zuijlen Paul P M PPM Burn Center, Department of Surgery, Red Cross Hospital, Beverwijk, The Netherlands; Association of Dutch Burn Centers, Beverwijk, The Netherlands, and Lidwine B Mokkink.
• Burn Center, Department of Surgery, Red Cross Hospital, Beverwijk, The Netherlands; Association of Dutch Burn Centers, Beverwijk, The Netherlands; Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Hand Surgery, Red Cross Hospital, Beverwijk, The Netherlands; Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Hand Surgery, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: mjaspers@rkz.nl.
• Burns. 2019 Mar 1; 45 (2): 261-281.

PurposeReliable and valid assessment of burn wound depth or healing potential is essential to treatment decision-making, to provide a prognosis, and to compare studies evaluating different treatment modalities. The aim of this review was to critically appraise, compare and summarize the quality of relevant measurement properties of techniques that aim to assess burn wound depth or healing potential.MethodsA systematic literature search was performed using PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library. Two reviewers independently evaluated the methodological quality of included articles using an adapted version of the Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) checklist. A synthesis of evidence was performed to rate the measurement properties for each technique and to draw an overall conclusion on quality of the techniques.ResultsThirty-six articles were included, evaluating various techniques, classified as (1) laser Doppler techniques; (2) thermography or thermal imaging; (3) other measurement techniques. Strong evidence was found for adequate construct validity of laser Doppler imaging (LDI). Moderate evidence was found for adequate construct validity of thermography, videomicroscopy, and spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI). Only two studies reported on the measurement property reliability. Furthermore, considerable variation was observed among comparator instruments.ConclusionsConsidering the evidence available, it appears that LDI is currently the most favorable technique; thereby assessing burn wound healing potential. Additional research is needed into thermography, videomicroscopy, and SFDI to evaluate their full potential. Future studies should focus on reliability and measurement error, and provide a precise description of which construct is aimed to measure.Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

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