OBJECTIVE We evaluated the long-term outcome of the "pocket flap-graft" technique, used to cover acute deep burns of the dorsum of the hand, and analyzed surgical alternatives. METHODS This was a 6-year, retrospective study of 8 patients with extensive burns and 1 patient with a single burn (11 hands in all) treated by defatted abdominal wall pockets. We studied the medical records of the pat...

BIOBRANE HAS BECOME AN INDISPENSIBLE DRESSING WITH THREE ESTABLISHED INDICATIONS IN ACUTE BURNS CARE AT OUR INSTITUTION: (1) as the definitive dressing of superficial partial thickness facial burns, (2) after tangential excision of deep burns when autograft or cadaver skin is unavailable, and (3) for graft reduction. This paper details our initial experience of Biobrane for the management of su...

Despite prevention efforts, burn injuries among auto mechanics are described in the literature. Electrothermal ring burns from car batteries occur by short-circuiting through the ring when it touches the open terminal or metal housing. This article describes a 34-year-old male auto mechanic who was holding a wrench when his gold ring touched the positive terminal of a 12-volt car battery and th...

DESCRIPTION A 56-year-old woman was admitted with 17% total body surface area deep burns. Intubated en route to the hospital for possible inhalation injury and remained intubated for 9 days due to her underlying pulmonary history. Her hospital course was complicated by an occipital lesion discovered during a routine dressing change (Fig 1).

DESCRIPTION An 18-year-old man suffered deep dermal burns on his chest, back, and left arm after an explosion and underwent mesh-skin grafting of the affected areas over several operations. The patient came to us with a postburn joint contracture of the left elbow.

In Andean lakes a distinctive assemblage of large mixotrophic ciliates (>80 μm), dominated by the peritrich Ophrydium naumanni Pejler and the heterotrich Stentor araucanus Foissner & Wölfl, has been previously reported (Wölfl, 1995; Modenutti, 1997; Queimaliños et al., 1999; Modenutti et al., 2000). These two species have been found only in large, deep ultra-oligotrophic lakes (area >5 km2, Zma...

BACKGROUND Split skin grafting (SSG) is the cornerstone in the treatment of deep burns and large skin defects. Frequently used donor sites are the thigh, abdomen and buttocks. The scalp is less common while considered as a reliable donor site. Advantages are a large surface area, rapid wound healing, cosmetically favourable results and multiple harvests from the same donor site. Complications i...

TO THE EDITOR: Alkali drain cleaner has previously been reported to cause oral, oesophageal and cutaneous burns. 1-4 The risk of these cleaners causing full thickness cutaneous burns in children needs to be emphasised. Two toddlers recently presented to our hospital with severe burns after exposure to alkali drain cleaning products. An 18-month-old boy opened the box and bit open the silver foi...