Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Appropriate first aid can reduce the morbidity of burns, however, there are considerable variations between international first aid recommendations. We aim to identify, and compare first aid practices in children who present to Emergency Departments (ED) with a burn. ⋯ A low number of children received optimal burns first aid, with potentially harmful methods applied in a considerable proportion of cases. There is an urgent need for internationally agreed, evidence-based burn first aid recommendations.
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While clinical examination is needed for burn severity diagnosis, several emerging technologies aim to quantify this process for added objectivity. Accurate assessments become easier after burn progression, but earlier assessments of partial thickness burn depth could lead to earlier excision and grafting and subsequent improved healing times, reduced rates of scarring/infection, and shorter hospital stays. Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging (SFDI), Laser Speckle Imaging (LSI) and thermal imaging are three non-invasive imaging modalities that have some diagnostic ability for noninvasive assessment of burn severity, but have not been compared in a controlled experiment. ⋯ In terms of diagnostic accuracy, using histology as a reference, SFDI (85%) and clinical analysis (83%) performed significantly better that LSI (75%) and thermography (73%) 24h after the burn. There was no statistically significant improvement from 24 to 72h across the different imaging modalities. These data indicate that these imaging modalities, and specifically SFDI, can be added to the burn clinicians' toolbox to aid in early assessment of burn severity.
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Discussions regarding withdrawal of life support after burn injury are challenging and complex. Often, providers may facilitate this discussion when the extent of injury makes survival highly unlikely or when the patient's condition deteriorates during resuscitation. Few papers have evaluated withdrawal of life support in burn patients. We therefore sought to determine the predictor of withdrawal of life support (WLS) in a regional burn center. ⋯ The decision to withdraw life support is a complex and difficult decision. Our current understanding of predictors of withdrawal of life support suggests that they mirror those factors which increase a patient's risk of mortality. Further research is needed to fully explore end-of-life decision making in regards to burn patients. The role of patient's sex, particularly women, in WLS decision making needs to be further explored.
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Severe burns might be followed by severe infection associated with high mortality. In this study, we aimed to identify changes in genes and processes across time points after burn via analyzing time series gene expression profiles in burn patients and control from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). ⋯ Functional enrichment analysis of those DEGs indicated significant enrichment of inflammatory/immune related processes throughout time points after burn, while, samples at later time points were also closely associated with cell activation regulation related processes. Short time series expression analysis of overlapping genes among the four lists of DEGs screened out two temporal gene expression profiles that exhibited decreasing and increasing expression trend across times after burn, and genes contained in those two profiles might be related to pathologic changes after severe burn.
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Vancomycin empirical dosing studies in thermally injured patients have netted low successful target attainment and most excluded renal dysfunction, limiting applicability. In a previous study, the authors performed a retrospective analysis of 124 patients' measured pharmacokinetic parameters to calculate optimal dose and interval for intermittent infusion regimens and find predictors of clearance and total daily dose. The objective of this study was to improve the accuracy of attaining goal therapeutic targets with initial vancomycin regimens in patients with thermal injury through retrospective modeling. ⋯ The algorithm that resulted in the highest target attainment without overdosing recommended 15mg/kg dosed every 24h for CrCl≥30, every 12h for CrCl 31-79, every 8h for patients with CrCl≥80ml/min, and every 6h only if the patient with a CrCl≥80ml/min is also≤40 years old and has a SCr≤0.8. Caution is warranted for groups underrepresented in this study, such as those with very low CrCl, a low BMI, or receiving renal replacement therapy. This algorithm should be validated in other centers for patients with thermal injuries.