Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Over the last decade the concept of quality in healthcare has gained increasing prominence, not least in the field of skin and tissue banking. This was brought into sharp focus by the appearance of HIV, however, over the decade other viruses have also gained notoriety, e.g. ⋯ This has also provided an opportunity to consider other aspects of skin banking that might also affect quality and to offer standards or guidelines to optimise these aspects. The purpose of this review is to highlight these various quality issues in order to allow surgeons to make informed choices and decisions regarding their sources and uses of skin allografts.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Posttraumatic stress and maladjustment among adult burn survivors 1-2 years postburn.
Burn patients were assessed 14-24 months following their injury to estimate the prevalence of chronic posttraumatic stress in the adult burn population in The Netherlands. Among 428 patients, 33 per cent suffered severe posttraumatic stress symptomatology. Burn related health problems and shame were strongly associated with posttraumatic stress. Bootstrapping was used to estimate standardized regression weights in a structural equation model.
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Outcome studies after burn injury have become increasingly important as overall mortality from injury has decreased. The present study, concerning physical and psychosocial aspects, is the second part of our larger survey of outcome after burn. The basis of our study instrument was the Abbreviated Burn Specific Health Scale. ⋯ Sexual life was affected by FT burns larger than 20%. Patients older than 25 years, those with TBSA greater than 30%, FT greater than 20% or time of hospitalization over one month were concerned about their general health. The effect of burns on patients' physical and psychosocial life was, however, slight, even with respect to severe injuries.
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Case Reports Comparative Study
Correlation between magnetic resonance imaging and histopathology of an amputated forearm after an electrical injury.
A 53-year-old man sustained a 50 Hz, 60 kV electrical injury. The current flowed between his right hand and both feet. There was necrosis of the distal portion of the right forearm, and the fourth and fifth toes on the right foot. ⋯ However, most of the muscles of the arm at the elbow were necrosed and partially replaced by fatty tissue or fibrosis. These necrotic areas corresponded to minimally increased signal intensities on T1-weighted MRI, and high signal intensities on T2-weighted images. MRI may be employed to predict amputation level after electrical injury.