Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Cellophane paper has been used as a dressing for split-thickness skin graft donor sites in 251 patients between October 1985 and December 1989. Twelve donor sites in 10 patients were observed in detail to assess the usefulness of this material. ⋯ In the opinion of the authors the cellophane paper dressing was found to be most satisfactory. It is also cheaper than the newly available dressing materials for the skin donor area.
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This paper reports an analysis of the mortality rates and related factors in our Burn Centre, based on 710 patients treated between 1985 and 1988. The average age of the patients was 23.8 years and the average burn size was 14 per cent of the body surface area. Burning injury affected mainly men (66 per cent), and their mortality rate was higher than that of women. ⋯ The main cause of the burning injury was flames, chiefly from domestic accidents. The average survival time for the fatally injured patients was 10 days. Finally, our expected mortality followed a linear regression model, the LA50 for patients with only full skin thickness burns was 50 per cent.
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In a search for an invisible skin donor site and a comfortable dressing for the donor site, a study was designed in which the scalp was used as the donor site and Duoderm was applied as the dressing. The study contained 18 children with minor burns. A Duoderm dressing on scalp donor sites showed a normal healing time. In using the scalp as a donor site the patient can be mobilized very quickly after the operation and the scar is hidden and invisible 1 month postoperation.