Journal of the Indian Medical Association
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Thirty-four patients with burns were subjected to the clinicopathological study with special reference to culture of the wound and histological examination of the burned tissue. The commonest cause of burn was thermal burn (91.18%) followed by electric burn (5.88%) and chemical burn (2.94%). The maximum number of patients belonged to second and third decades of life (61.78%). ⋯ Biopsies were done in 17 patients and showed maximum incidence of bacterial infection followed by fungal infection. Patients with burn more than 60% of total body surface area (TBSA) had 100% mortality, while patients with 20-30% of TBSA burn had 20% mortality, the overall mortality was 50%. Biopsies of the burn wound played an important role in the accurate diagnosis and thus helped in starting early specific therapy to prevent death from sepsis.