Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Hypopigmentation is a major problem in deep dermal burns. To date, no standard treatment is available for the post burn hypopigmentation disorder. Therefore, understanding the molecular and cellular events are of benefit for therapeutic intervention. ⋯ Culture data exhibited a change of dendritic structure, reduced proliferation rate, faulty melanin synthesis and transfer of melanin from melanocytes to keratinocytes in PBHS samples. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study showing structural and functional aberrations of melanocytes and keratinocytes, as a potential cause of hypopigmentation in burned patients. Our study, therefore, provides valuable insight for the basis of hypopigmentation in post burn patients, which may pave the way for clinical intervention in the future.
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Recent advances in burn care have resulted in the transition of care from inpatient to outpatient. There is a growing appreciation that with improved survival, meaningful markers of quality need to include recovery of form, function, and reconstruction. Capture of the data describing care delivered in the outpatient setting is being missed. ⋯ High quality databases serve to measure effectiveness of care and offer insight for areas of improvement. There is a clear need for inclusion of outpatient activity in the National Burn Registry (NBR).
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Time to return to school in child and adolescent burn patients from a sub-Saharan tertiary hospital.
Africa, with the largest number of paediatric burns needs to focus more attention on paediatric burn survivors. Burn injury truncates schooling in child and adolescent burn patients. The aim of this study was to determine the time to return to school and factors influencing this in child and adolescent burn patients. ⋯ Time to return to school from burn injury and from discharge in child and adolescent burn survivors in this study are at least three times longer than previous studies. The burn care team needs to consider school re-entry programs for these children.