Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Half a million patients in the USA alone require treatment for burns annually. Following an extensive burn, it may not be possible to provide sufficient autografts in a single setting. Pig skin xenografts may provide temporary coverage. ⋯ We summarize the current status of research into skin xenotransplantation for burns, with special emphasis on developments in genetic engineering of pigs to protect the graft from immunological injury. A genetically-engineered pig skin graft now survives as long as an allograft and, importantly, rejection of a skin xenograft is not detrimental to a subsequent allograft. Nevertheless, currently, systemic immunosuppressive therapy would still be required to inhibit a cellular response, and so we discuss what further genetic manipulations could be carried out to inhibit the cellular response.
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This study aimed to describe the nature, scope or meaning of the concept 'burn scar', from the perspective of adults and children with burn scarring, caregivers of children with burn scarring and health professionals who were considered experts in the treatment of burn scarring. The impact of the identified characteristics on burn scar health-related quality of life (HRQOL) was also examined. ⋯ This study identified there are differences in the burn scar characteristics considered important by health professionals and those characteristics that adult/child/caregivers perceived to impact on indicators of burn scar HRQOL. It is recommended that outcome measures of burn scarring include the burn scar characteristics of 'stretchability' and 'scar sensitivity' at a minimum. The inclusion of 'fragility', 'scar surface appearance' and 'color' should also be considered.
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The process of standardising burn care and creating protocols within burn centres has, at its core, evidence-based practice principles combined with the clinical experiences of burn care specialists. Although protocols and pathways have been created for certain topics of burn care, they tend to be tailored to the local individual needs of each burn centre, which is a limiting factor for consideration of larger/nationwide approaches. ⋯ We describe the steps put in place in Canada to design and adopt a nationwide protocol from a single burn centre on the topic of wound healing and dermal substitutes as the initial exemplary process. This report summarizes the Canadian experience for this type of initiative, which can be used as framework for developing additional guidelines/protocols in other relevant burn care related topics in Canada or other countries.
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The BuRN-Tool (Burns Risk assessment for Neglect or abuse Tool) is a clinical prediction tool (CPT) aiding the identification of child maltreatment in children with burn injuries. The tool has been derived from systematic reviews and epidemiological studies, validated and is under-going an implementation evaluation. Clinician opinion on the use of this CPT is a key part of its evaluation. ⋯ This study confirms that the BuRN-Tool is acceptable in an ED setting. The focus groups demonstrated a homogenous and positive attitude regarding the layout, benefits and use of the BuRN-Tool. The subjective interpretation of some variables accounts for the non-uniformity in the scores generated. Clarification of questions will be made.
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Treatment of burn wounds is technically demanding and several attempts have been taken to improve wound healing. Silver sulfadiazine antibiotic has been shown to have some beneficial effects on wound healing via reduction in infection. This study was designed to investigate the impact of collagen hydrogel-scaffold dressing with or without topical use of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on cutaneous burn wound healing in rat. ⋯ C.) significantly increased collagen content compared to the negative controls. Moreover, the CH-S-S treated lesions demonstrated greater ultimate load and stiffness compared to the untreated wounds. In conclusion, application of S. cerevisiae with a bi-phase biological dressing (CH-S) improved the morphological and biomechanical characteristics of the healing burned wounds in rats and the results were comparable to the positive control.