Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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External fixators designed specifically for severe, late postburn contractures of hand and wrist have been used in five patients between 1993 and 1997 with follow up for an average of 30.2 months. The mean age of patients at operation was 16.6 years ranging from 14 to 20 years. They had a number of failed operations. ⋯ After reconstructive operations, at least one hand function was attained. We have found the external fixator method to be helpful in treating severe, fixed and complex postburn contractures of hand where previous surgery had failed. This study indicates the uses and benefits of external fixators as a soft tissue lengthener when correcting progressively complex burn contractures of hand.
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Letter Case Reports
Compartment syndrome: effect of limb position on pressure measurement.
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Burn injuries require a multidisciplinary approach. Emergency Departments can play vital roles in the treatment of burns. The purpose of this study is to investigate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of the adult burn patients admitted to our Emergency Department and to determine the frequency of the patients who were treated on an outpatient basis and discharged from the Emergency Department. ⋯ Burns were mostly due to accidents arising from carelessness, ignorance, hazardous traditions and improperly manufactured products. These can be prevented through mass education programs countrywide. Because almost all burn patients present to Emergency Departments first and not all hospitals can employ burn specialists, the patients with minor burns can be treated on an outpatient basis and the treatment of severe burns can be effectively initiated by emergency physicians.
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Skin allografts derived from cadaveric human donors are widely used in the treatment of serious burn injuries and other conditions, such as ulcers. In order to render these allografts safe for clinical use, and to enable them to be preserved and banked for long periods, effective methods of decontamination and preservation are required. These methods must not adversely affect graft properties essential for clinical performance. ⋯ The PAA disinfection and glycerol preservation protocol had no effects on collagenase susceptibility, whereas the disinfection protocol in combination with propylene glycol rendered some of the test samples significantly more susceptible to collagenase digestion. Therefore, this study has demonstrated that PAA disinfection combined with glycerol preservation is suitable for skin allografts. The use of propylene glycol as a preservation agent for skin requires further development.