ultra-early versus early excision and grafting for thermal burns up to 60% total body surface area; a historical cohort study

objective: to compare the outcome of patients with up to 60% total body surface area (tbsa) thermal burns undergoing ultra-early and early excision and grafting. methods: this historical cohort study was performed in two referral burn centers of shiraz during a 1-year period from 2015 to 2016. we included those patients with thermal burns up to 60% tbsa who underwent ultra-early (48-72 hours) and early (7-10 days) excision and grafting. we excluded those who were hemodynamically unstable and those with electrical burns. the outcome of patients was determined by graft success, operation duration, blood loss, hospital length of stay and mortality rate.  results: we included a total number of 107 patients with mean age of 32.1 ± 11.6 years. there were 65 (60.7%) men and 42 (39.3%) women among the patients. both study groups were comparable regarding the baseline characteristics. ultra-early excision and grafting was associated with more, higher graft success rate ( p =0.048), lower infection rate ( p =0.037), shorter hospital length of stay ( p =0.044) and lower mortality rate ( p =0.027). conclusion: ultra-early excision and grafting in patients with thermal burns covering less than 60% tbsa was associated with higher graft success rate, shorter hospital length of stay, lower infection rate and lower mortality rate when compared to early surgery.