Journal of burn care & research : official publication of the American Burn Association
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Cutaneous functional units (CFUs) are fields of skin that functionally contribute to range of motion (ROM) at an associated joint. When replaced with scar tissue, the skin is less extensible and may result in loss of movement at the joint. Consideration of the amount of CFU affected by burn injury is increasingly being used to predict the development of burn scar contracture (BSC) in burn survivors. ⋯ That is, the amount of a given CFU scarred was predictive of less ROM achieved in the associated area. Percentage of CFU involved did not significantly correlate with baseline shoulder ROM, suggesting that other factors may be associated with initial limitations in ROM. Evaluation of the percentage of CFU scarred is useful for predicting shoulder ROM recovery with rehabilitation and may be used to help guide clinical decision making and allocation of time and resource for therapy services.
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Comparative Study
Risk Factors for Ocular Burn Injuries Requiring Surgery.
The surgical management of severe ocular burns is challenging and often associated with variable long-term outcome. The aims of this study were to analyze the clinical course of these injuries and determine the factors associated with the need for surgery. A retrospective medical records review was conducted for patients admitted to the Victorian Adult Burns Services, with ocular burns, from January 2000 to January 2010. ⋯ Patients undergoing surgery had a longer length of hospital stay (median [interquartile range] 40 [12-90] vs 12 [4-29.5] days; P = .004) and larger TBSA burned (median [interquartile range] 20 [10-60] vs 8 [4-20]; P = .011). Factors associated with the need for surgery included flame burns, periorbital edema, visual loss on presentation, increasing severity of eyelid and facial burns, severe corneal injury, as well as lagophthalmos, ectropion, and microbial keratitis (P < .05). Although only a minority required surgery, these patients often require multiple procedures and develop long-term ocular morbidity.
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The objective of this study is to investigate the factors associated with serum phosphate concentrations in severely burned children and whether hypophosphatemia is associated with outcome. Seventy-eight children with a total body surface area of 24% (6.0-68.5) were retrospectively analyzed for serum phosphate concentrations during the first 10 days of stay in the intensive care unit (ICU). The method of generalized estimating equations was used to evaluate the effect of the exposure variables for serum phosphate concentrations during the study period. ⋯ Hypophosphatemia was independently associated with a 68% decrease in the probability of ICU discharge at 30 days (subhazard ratio: -0.32; 95% CI: 0.20, 0.53; P = .001) and an increase of 2.9 days in mechanical ventilation (coefficient: 2.91; 95% CI: 1.16, 4.66; P = .001). Serum phosphate concentrations in pediatric burn patients are associated with the magnitude of inflammatory response. Hypophosphatemia is associated with decreased probability of ICU discharge and increased time on mechanical ventilation.
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Comparative Study
Accuracy of Currently Used Paper Burn Diagram vs a Three-Dimensional Computerized Model.
Burn units have historically used paper diagrams to estimate percent burn; however, unintentional errors can occur. The use of a computer program that incorporates wound mapping from photographs onto a three-dimensional (3D) human diagram could decrease subjectivity in preparing burn diagrams and subsequent calculations of TBSA burned. Analyses were done on 19 burned patients who had an estimated TBSA burned of ≥20%. ⋯ In conclusion, substantial differences exist in percent burn estimations derived from BurnCase 3D and paper diagrams. In our studied cohort, paper diagrams were associated with overestimation of partial-thickness burn size and underestimation of full-thickness burn size. Additional studies comparing BurnCase 3D with other commonly used methods are warranted.
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Burn injury increases the risk of morbidity and mortality by promoting severe hemodynamic shock and risk for local or systemic infection. Graft failure due to poor wound healing or infection remains a significant problem for burn subjects. The mechanisms by which local burn injury compromises the epithelial antimicrobial barrier function in the burn margin, containing the elements necessary for healing of the burn site, and in distal unburned skin, which serves as potential donor tissue, are largely unknown. ⋯ We further identified diverse changes in the gene expression and protein production of several candidate skin antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in both donor skin and burn margin. These results also parallel changes in cutaneous AMP activity against common burn wound pathogens, aberrant production of epidermal proteases known to regulate barrier permeability and AMP activity, and greater production of proinflammatory cytokines known to be induced by AMPs. These findings suggest that impaired epidermal lipid and AMP regulation could contribute to graft failure and infectious complications in subjects with burn or other traumatic injury.