Journal of burn care & research : official publication of the American Burn Association
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Comparison of traditional burn wound mapping with a computerized program.
Accurate burn estimation affects the use of burn resuscitation formulas and treatment strategies, and thus can affect patient outcomes. The objective of this process-improvement project was to compare the accuracy of a computer-based burn mapping program, WoundFlow (WF), with the widely used hand-mapped Lund-Browder (LB) diagram. Manikins with various burn representations (from 1% to more than 60% TBSA) were used for comparison of the WF system and LB diagrams. ⋯ The results of 100 samples, compared using Bland-Altman analysis, showed no difference between the two methods. WF was as accurate as LB mapping for all burn surface areas. WF may be additionally beneficial in that it can track daily progress until complete wound closure, and can automatically calculate burn size, thus decreasing the chances of mathematical errors.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A feasibility study assessing cortical plasticity in chronic neuropathic pain following burn injury.
The aim of this article is to evaluate the neuroplastic changes associated with chronic neuropathic pain following burn injury and modulation feasibility using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). This is a crossover, double-blinded case series involving three patients with chronic neuropathic pain following burn injury. Participants were randomly assigned to undergo single sessions of both sham and active anodal tDCS over the primary motor cortex, contralateral to the most painful site. ⋯ Clinical outcomes did not change after a single session of tDCS. Results are consistent with previous studies showing that patients with chronic neuropathic pain have defective intracortical inhibition. This case series shows early evidence that chronic pain following burn injury may share similar central neural mechanisms, which could be modulated using tDCS.