Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Comparison of self-reported and monitored compliance of daily injection of human growth hormone in burned children.
Objectives. We compared insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I) levels obtained in two groups with different methods of assessing compliance. Burned children were randomized to receive a daily injection of 0.05-0.1mg/kg per day of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) or placebo. ⋯ In contrast, the percent change in IGF-I levels in the placebo group was significantly decreased (-5.6+/-6.3%). Conclusions. Self-reported scores via an SRCQ is a potentially useful and valid method of assessing compliance of rhGH injections, as both reported and directly monitored methods yield similar changes in levels of IGF-I.
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Fibrin glue is an excellent template for cellular migration and has been shown to be an effective delivery system for cultured autologous keratinocytes. We have investigated whether fibrin glue has any benefit on the percentage of epithelial cover when cultured autologous keratinocytes are sprayed onto a freshly debrided wound bed. Three pigs were used for this study. ⋯ There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (P=0.802). This surprising result was confirmed by histological analysis of the wound biopsies, with a good correlation between histological and image analysis data (R=0.967). There was no observable difference in the quality of the epithelium on histological and immunohistological analysis of either group.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
A randomised clinical trial comparing a hydrocolloid-derived dressing and glycerol preserved allograft skin in the management of partial thickness burns.
Membranous dressings for the treatment of partial and mixed thickness burns are among the most innovative and promising new developments of the last years. In this study, we present data of a randomised prospective comparative study on a carboxymethylcellulose based dressing, Hydrofibre((R)) and glycerolized human allograft skin. In a 2 year period, 80 patients (40 for each material) were enrolled in the trial. ⋯ Incidence of hypertrophy after 6 months was higher, but not significantly, in the Hydrofibre((R)) compared to the allograft skin group (52.5% versus 30%, P=0.09, chi-square). In view of the results from our comparative study on Hydrofibre((R)) versus allograft skin, we prefer the use of allograft skin for the category of larger burns of mixed depth, usually presented to burn centres. However, for partial thickness and small burns Hydrofibre((R)) can be the first choice in treatment.
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Impairment rating is regularly reported for trauma and other conditions but rarely for burns. The purposes of this study were: (1) to report impairment collected prospectively at our burn center, (2) to relate this impairment to measures of psychosocial and functional outcome, and (3) to compare these data to similar data from another burn center to verify that rating impairment is standardized and that the impairments are similar. We studied 139 patients from the University of Washington (UW) Burn Center and 100 patients from the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Burn Center. ⋯ Average whole person impairment ratings at UT Southwestern were similar at 19%. Several components of the impairment rating, however, differed at the two institutions. To minimize this variation, we recommend: (1) use the skin impairment definitions of the fifth edition of the Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (or the most recent published versions of the Guide), and (2) include sensory impairment in healed burns and skin grafts in the skin impairment.
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Clinical Trial
Hydrocortisone improved haemodynamics and fluid requirement in surviving but not non-surviving of severely burned patients.
Recent studies have shown that administration of hydrocortisone may lead to a reduction of catecholamines and to an improved outcome in septic patients. However, there are no data on the use of hydrocortisone in burn patients although in these patients reduction of vasopressors might be even more crucial for outcome due to improvement of skin perfusion. This study presents the first results on the impact of hydrocortisone administration in norepinephrine dependent severely burned patients. ⋯ Due to the high number of non-responders, the potential immune suppression and impaired wound healing caused by the side effects of hydrocortisone, further selection criteria seem to be necessary. A short ACTH-test might be considered prior to hydrocortisone administration to select patients who might benefit from this therapy. In summary, further prospective controlled studies will be necessary to establish hydrocortisone in the routine therapy of severely burned patients.