Harefuah
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Burn injuries are very frequent and afflict approximately 1% of the population yearly. They are a source of heavy medical burden to medical systems worldwide. In the US alone, about 2 million burns are treated by medical staff yearly, and about 75,000 burns are serious enough to require hospitalization. ⋯ Fluid resuscitation is mainly managed using the Parkland equation. The treatment of the burned skin is by one of two regimes--the conservative regime (frequent redressing of the burn site, hygiene and antimicrobial treatment) and the surgical regime (early intervention with debridement, skin implantations etc.). Several different studies have shown a decrease in the mortality rate of severe burn patients who have undergone an early surgical regime in comparison to conservative treatment.
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Chronic pain is a common, yet frequently overlooked and undertreated complaint among older patients. It may result in an impairment of the function and quality of life of these patients. Chronic pain is a syndrome, which influences and is influenced by many potential factors (physiological psychological and social), all of which require treatment to achieve an optimal clinical outcome. ⋯ In older people, a host of factors can impede assessment and drug management, including multiple medical problems and many potential sources of pain, sensory impairment, depression, disability and impaired cognitive function. In addition, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics unique to the geriatric population make this group vulnerable to adverse medication effects. By using appropriate pharmacological combined with non-pharmacological treatment, it is often possible to improve function ability to a greater extent than the severity of pain reduced.
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To evaluate the fusion achieved by posterior lumbar interbody fusion--PLIF [B-TWIN, Disc-O-Tech) stand-alone in terms of intervertebral fusion on the basis of radiograph imaging. ⋯ A fusion rate of 93% was achieved. The findings suggested a tendency for better results in the female group and better results in the spinal stenosis group compared with the spondylolisthesis group and the degenerative disc disease group. There is a need for further investigation in order to establish our findings.
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Circa 2700 burn victims require hospitalization in Israel each year. Most of these burns happen as household accidents, caused by hot liquids and involve less than 20% of the total body surface area. ⋯ In most centers, the joint treatment of the most severe cases, provided by plastic surgeons and intensive care specialists allows the use of advanced techniques and treatment protocols, improving outcome. In order to further improve the quality of care for the burn patients, to allow improved national capability to contend with scenarios of disaster and mass casualty, to provide a sound database for future planning and billing, and also to produce appropriate intervention plans, Israel should have a system similar to the US's National Burn Repository.