Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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The café fire at Volendam occurred shortly after midnight on the first of January 2001 and resulted in one of the worst mass burn incidents in recent Dutch history. The aim of this study was to provide insight into medical and organisational requirements of a major burns incident. ⋯ An incident with high numbers of burn victims poses a challenge to any health care system. The difficult circumstances at the site demonstrated the need for robust organisational structures. The primary and secondary distribution of patients required coordination, general hospitals were able to provide initial medical care to these major burn casualties.
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Each year in Hong Kong, about 350,000 surgical procedures are conducted for various types of conditions. Previous review indicated that the prevalence of hypertrophic scar among Caucasians ranged from 15% to 63% and that the incidence was even higher among non-Caucasians. This study aims to find out the prevalence rate of hypertrophic scar among the Hong Kong Chinese population after standardized surgical procedures. ⋯ More than 40% of patients reported pain and itchiness. The results showed that more than 70% of the scars in the HK Chinese population had become hypertrophic in terms of pigmentation, thickness and physical symptoms such as pain and itchiness 1 month after the surgical intervention. More long-term follow up study should be done to find out the prevalence and that it is essential to provide early intervention before the scar becomes problematic in management.
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The treatment of scald burns in children is still under discussion. The aim of the present study was to evaluate an optimised treatment regime for scald burns in children. Between 1997 and 2002, 124 children underwent surgical intervention due to burn injuries. ⋯ In children the use of cultivated keratinocytes in partial thickness scald burns is a procedure, which renders constantly reliable results. It minimizes the areas of autologous skin harvesting and reduces the amount of blood transfusions. The fact that less scarring is observed after keratinocyte grafting leads to the conclusion that skin grafting in children should be restricted to scalded areas, which have to be excised to the subcutaneous fat tissue.
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Blood loss and high rates of transfusion in burn centers remains an area of ongoing concern. Blood use brings the risk of infection, adverse reaction, and immunosuppression. ⋯ This study suggests that a defined protocol of hemostasis, technique, and transfusion trigger should be implemented in the process of burn excision and grafting. This will help especially those patients with the smallest burns, essentially eliminating transfusion need in that group.