Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Hypertrophic scars are devastating outcomes of severe burn injuries, producing physical and mental burdens. Adequate treatment is of benefit to relieve these burdens. Laser therapy has shown scar reducing effects. In this study, we compared outcomes after combination of two different lasers or single laser treatment to treat severe hypertrophic burn scars. ⋯ Effective scar reduction was achieved using combination laser treatment, with significant improvement in multiple observer- and patient-reported outcomes. The shorter treatment period of the combination method can be a merit, as prolonged hypertrophic scars may increase morbidity. Nonetheless, cautious treatment protocols are necessary to avoid undesirable sequelae related to laser application.
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Review
Instruments to assess function or functionality in adults after a burn injury: A systematic review.
Assessment of functionality or function, through valid and reliable instruments, is essential during rehabilitation of adults after a burn injury. Currently, there is no consensus in the literature regarding the most appropriate tool that should be used to assess function or functionality; there is also no synthesis of the current studies published in this area. ⋯ This systematic review demonstrated that most instruments used to assess function or functionality in adults with a burn injury have not been specifically developed for this population and had their measurement properties poorly studied. Conversely, almost all instruments had clinical utility.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of physical therapy rehabilitation program combined with music on children with lower limb burns: A twelve-week randomized controlled study.
Burn injuries cause significant physical impairments that need comprehensive rehabilitation and coordination with the acute burn care team. Music had been shown to increase positive mood during exercise, which may result in motivation for participation in exercise programs. The current study aimed to evaluate the effect of physical therapy rehabilitation program combined with music therapy on children with lower limb burns. ⋯ Physical therapy program combined with music therapy is an effective and safe modality for improving pain, range of motion, and gait parameters in pediatrics with lower limb burn. Also, physical therapy combined with music therapy is more effective than physical therapy alone in the treatment of pediatrics with lower limb burns.
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Reducing the amount of donor skin needed for definitive wound closure can improve outcomes in patients with severe burns. This Delphi Consensus Panel (DCP) aimed to achieve expert consensus on the percentage reduction in donor skin for autograft that constitutes a clinically meaningful benefit. A two-round DCP of fifteen US burn surgeons was conducted via a web-based survey platform. ⋯ All panelists agreed that a clinically meaningful reduction in the amount of donor skin required would facilitate wound management and decrease donor site morbidity experienced by patients. Furthermore, based on three treatment scenarios, consensus was achieved for a clinically meaningful reduction in the amount of donor skin required for autograft for the adult population in deep partial-thickness and full-thickness burns. Findings from this DCP indicate that an innovative cellular and/or tissue product that would reduce the needed amount of donor skin, by the identified thresholds, has the potential to improve the outcomes for patients with severe burn injuries in a meaningful way.
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Diabetes has been associated with poor outcomes following burn injury. There is limited data related to prediabetes in burn injury, and no studies to date have compared clinical outcomes inpatients without diabetes, with prediabetes, and with diabetes. Therefore, this study aimed to compare clinical outcomes after burn injury across the continuum of pre-injury glucose control. ⋯ After inverse probability weighing to adjust for potentially confounding factors, patients in the diabetes group had longer length of stay/%TBSA burn than both the no diabetes group (ratio of geometric means (95% CI) = 1.65 (1.25, 2.18), p < 0.001) and the prediabetes group (ratio (95% CI) = 1.49 (1.10, 2.02), p = 0.01). No statistically significant differences in secondary outcomes were observed between groups other than a higher rate of amputations in the diabetes group (2.7%) compared to the no diabetes (0.7%, p = 0.047) and prediabetes (0%, p = 0.04) groups. Further studies are needed to delineate the differences across the continuum of pre-injury glucose control in order to identify mechanisms to optimize burn-related outcomes.