Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Electrical burn is less common nowadays but still has complications and requires therapeutic interventions especially in developing countries. It occurs more in males and in industrial sites. The importance of electrical burn led us to study a 30 months history of electrical burn in Shiraz, Southern Iran. ⋯ The mean hospitalization period was 11.5 days and the mean burn extent was 27.5%. Half of the victims were employees and 59.3% of the electrical burns occurred at their work site. 67.2% of burns were due to high voltage electrical current (more than 1000 V) and 4.6% of the patients died due to the direct cause of electrical burn. The high prevalence of electrical burn in males and workers emphasizes on the essence of standardization of occupational areas and use of trained workers to prevent electrical burns.
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A prospective study to investigate first aid and initial management for 247 paediatric burn patients from 1 June, 2004 to 31 June, 2006 at the Burn Intensive Care Unit, National Institute of Burns (NIB), Hanoi. Data were collected from documents from referring hospitals and direct interview of patients, relative and transport team as guided by the International Society for Burn Injury (ISBI) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Results showed that cooling the burn surface by cold water was applied in 27.17%. ⋯ Burn surface area was accurately diagnosed in only 21.90% of total cases. In conclusion, first aid and initial management in Vietnam are still far from ideal. Further public education and continuing medical education should be applied in Vietnam.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The use of MatriDerm in early excision and simultaneous autologous skin grafting in burns--a pilot study.
The application of dermal substitutes in deep partial and full-thickness burn wounds in a two-stage procedure prior to skin grafting has become increasingly popular. Synchronous application of dermal substitutes and skin graft has not yet been established as a standard procedure. In a consecutive study 20 wounds in 10 patients with severe burns (age 49.5+/-16.2 years; TBSA 45.6+/-14.5%) were treated with either simultaneous transplantation of Matriderm, a bovine based collagen I, III, V and elastin hydrolysate based dermal substitute and split-thickness skin grafting (STSG), or STSG alone after appropriate excision of the burn wound. ⋯ The VBSS demonstrated a significant increase of elasticity in the group with dermal substitutes (p=0.04) as compared with non-substituted wounds for sheet autograft, but not for meshed autograft (p=0.24). From this pilot study it can be concluded that simultaneous application of a dermal matrix is safe and feasible, yielding significantly better results with respect to skin elasticity. Skin elasticity was considerably improved by the collagen/elastin dermal substitute Matriderm in combination with sheet autograft.
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Review
Dental and skeletal changes during pressure garment use in facial burns: a systematic review.
Concern exists regarding the combined effect of the burn itself in addition to the continuous use of the pressure garments on craniofacial structures. The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the available evidence regarding dental and skeletal changes produced during pressure garment use in facial burns. ⋯ There is scarcity of studies reporting dentomaxillofacial effects after pressure garment use in facial burns. The level of evidence presented in these articles does not give support to any strong conclusion regarding the craniofacial effects of facial burn management.