Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Burn scar outcome at six and 12 months after injury in children with partial thickness scalds: Effects of dressing treatment.
In line with other researchers in the field of burns' care, we think that research investigating the long-term outcome of scars is largely lacking. As scarring is of the utmost importance to the patient, clinicians who treat burns must aim to find treatments that lead to a good end result. The aim of this study was to study scar outcomes at six and 12 months after injury. It is an extension of a previous randomised controlled trial (RCT) in which two dressings (porcine xenograft and silver foam dressing) were examined with respect to their ability to help heal partial thickness scalds. ⋯ This study compared burn scarring after two different treatments for burns in children with partial-thickness scalds and the data suggested that neither dressing had a more favourable impact on scar outcome. The conclusion is, however, tempered by the non-return of all the patients to the follow up. However, as anticipated, regardless of the dressing used, longer healing times were associated with higher scar scores (more scarring) and hypertrophic scarring.
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A rise in the current trend of corrosive substance attacks have been reported in the UK, causing devastating effects on victims. The optimal management of these patients requires the specialist skills of the burn multidisciplinary team (MDT) to address the resulting physical and psychological trauma experienced. However, burn care must commence in the pre-hospital setting. ⋯ These challenges also encompass better education of the public and allied health professionals, as well as planning strategies to reduce the incidence of acid attacks. Prevention is always better than cure. This paper discusses the broadening of the MDT to improve outcomes in acid attacks by exploring the wider roles of the public, media, emergency services, police, legislation and better education.
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Burn injury pain is a significant public health problem. Burn injury treatment has improved tremendously in recent decades. However, an unintended consequence is that a larger number of patients now survive more severe injuries, and face intense pain that is very hard to treat. ⋯ This ligand-specific signaling by different opioids implies that burn injury may reduce the antinociceptive potency of opioids to different degrees, in a drug-specific manner. Indeed, recent findings hint at drug-specific differences in the ability of opioids to manage burn pain early after injury, as well as differences in their ability to prevent or treat the development of chronic and neuropathic pain. Here we review the current state of opioid treatment, as well as new findings that could potentially lead to opioid-based pain management strategies that may be significantly more effective than the current solutions.
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Meta Analysis
Amniotic membrane for treating skin graft donor sites: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
To evaluate the efficacy and safety of amniotic membrane (AM) for the healing of split-thickness skin graft donor sites (STSGDS). ⋯ This systematic review and meta-analysis indicate that it is effective and safe to use AM for treating STSGDS.