Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
-
Each year more than 5000 children present to English and Welsh hospitals for the management of scalds; 60% of these are small scalds of less than 10% body surface area. There are no agreed UK care pathways for this injury. One method of management is to use a biosynthetic wound dressing after thorough wound cleaning. In children, this usually utilises general anaesthesia. This study investigates the incidence of adverse events during anaesthesia for the application of biosynthetic dressings in children with small-area scalds. ⋯ The use of general anaesthesia in this setting for the application of biosynthetic dressings in children with small-area scalds has a low incidence of anaesthesia-related complications with no associated long-term sequelae. This incidence is similar to that quoted for adverse events related to anaesthesia for other procedures and is lower than that reported for procedures using sedation.
-
The long-term outcome after infant burn was queried 5-9 years after the initial accident. All participants had been treated for burn in Children's Hospital, Helsinki, Finland, before the age of 1 year. We hypothesized that the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in young burn survivors may be impaired compared to healthy age matched peers. ⋯ Comparison of the 17D profiles of the patients having been treated as inpatients or outpatients showed that those treated on an outpatient basis had better scores on the dimensions of speech, breathing, and friends (p<0.05). The 17D profiles of patients with scalds or contact burns were similar. The perceived and expressed long-term HRQoL in the burned children was good, and on some dimensions (sleeping, learning, discomfort and symptoms, breathing, depression, and appearance) even better, than that of the control population.
-
We investigated the effectiveness of ligustrazine (tetramethylpyrazine, TMP) in alleviating pulmonary damage induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Twenty-four healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups: the blank group, LPS group, and TMP treatment group (TMP group). The LPS group was intraperitoneally injected with LPS (20mg/kg), and the TMP group was intraperitoneally injected with LPS (20mg/kg) and ligustrazine (80mg/kg). ⋯ Compared with the LPS group, PaO2 significantly increased in the TMP group at 4h (P<0.05), while the W/D ratio and DAD score were significantly decreased in the TMP group (P<0.01). TNF-α levels, CD31+ EMPs, and protein expression of ROCK II and TLR4 were significantly decreased in the TMP group compared with the LPS group (P<0.01). This study demonstrated that TMP can alleviate LPS-induced pulmonary damage by attenuating pulmonary vascular permeability and CD31+ EMP levels in the plasma, reducing the release of the inflammatory mediator TNF-α and inhibiting the protein expression of ROCK II and TLR4.
-
Stimulation of α1-adrenoceptors evokes inflammatory cytokine production, boosts neurogenic inflammation and pain, and influences cellular migration and proliferation. As expression of α1-adrenoceptors increases on dermal nerves and keratinocytes after peripheral nerve injury, the aim of this study was to determine whether another form of tissue injury (a cutaneous burn) triggered a similar response. In particular, changes in expression of α1-adrenoceptors were investigated on dermal nerve fibres, keratinocytes and fibroblast-like cells using immunohistochemistry 2-12 weeks after a full thickness burn in Wistar rats. ⋯ In contrast, α1-adrenoceptor labelled cells and staining intensity in the upper dermis decreased contralateral to the burn, as did nerve fibre density in the deep dermis. These findings suggest that inflammatory mediators and/or growth factors at the site of a burn trigger the synthesis of α1-adrenoceptors on resident epidermal cells and nerve fibres, and an influx of α1-adrenoceptor labelled cells. The heightened expression of α1-adrenoceptors in injured tissue could shape inflammatory and wound healing responses.