The Journal of burn care & rehabilitation
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Burn-related pain is often severe and intermittently excruciating for months after the initial injury as the result of the multiple procedures these patients must undergo. Procedure-related pain is often undertreated, especially in children. Pain management should be integrated into the patient's overall care plan. ⋯ General anesthesia should be considered, especially in children, when patients are to undergo extremely painful procedures. Patients need not experience severe pain after burn injury. Pain management, especially during very painful procedures, should be an integrated part of patients care and high-quality pain management to improve patient outcome.
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A scald burn is a superficial to mid second-degree burn with a viable dermis beneath the blisters and a good blood flow. However, the burn may be incapacitating because of pain and fluid and heat loss. Biobrane adheres very well to this depth of burn and mechanically and biochemically closes the wound. We have used Biobrane on scald burns for the last 5 years and have found it to be an excellent method of treating superficial second-degree burns.
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Biobrane (standard adherence) and Biobrane L (light adherence) were compared for their degree of adherence to donor site wounds on rabbits at 1, 4, 7, and 9 days. Biobrane, which has more nylon fabric exposed to the wound surface, had significantly greater adherence levels to the wound at all time periods when compared with Biobrane L, which has less nylon fabric exposed to the wound.
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J Burn Care Rehabil · May 1995
The risk of pneumonia in thermally injured patients requiring ventilatory support.
The risk of pulmonary infectious complications in critically ill patients requiring ventilatory support is well established. To evaluate the impact of tracheal intubation on the risk of pneumonia, the records of three hundred seventy thermally injured patients (mean age, 37.6 years, mean total body surface area burn, 44.7%) who were admitted during a 6-year interval and required ventilatory support were reviewed. ⋯ Actuarial life table analysis considering only pneumonia acquired during ventilatory support was used to evaluate the relation between the risk of pneumonia and duration of ventilatory support. In this cohort of patients with burns, no difference in the risk of pneumonia was observed between patients with and without inhalation injury who required ventilatory support; the hazard of pneumonia was relatively constant during the first 6 weeks of intubation and was similar for all who underwent ventilation.
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J Burn Care Rehabil · May 1995
Comparative StudyA study to determine the efficacy of treatments for hydrofluoric acid burns.
Hydrofluoric acid burns are characterized by progressive tissue destruction and severe pain. Fluoride ion chelators, such as salts of calcium and magnesium, have been used to treat these burns. This study was designed to compare the efficacy of several treatment methods that involve the use of these salts. ⋯ However, subcutaneous injections of calcium gluconate or magnesium sulfate and topical applications of calcium gluconate in a solution of dimethyl sulfoxide significantly slowed the progress of the burns during the first 24 hours and enhanced tissue recovery for the remainder of the observation period. These results indicate that subcutaneous injections of magnesium or calcium salts appear to be more effective than conventional topical applications in the treatment of hydrofluoric acid burns. More significantly, topically applied calcium gluconate combined with a penetration enhancer, such as dimethyl sulfoxide, is as effective as injection treatments in reducing damage caused by hydrofluoric acid.