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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Galveston, TX ( February 1, 2012) – New research reviewing more than 900 pediatric burn patients over a 10-year period concluded that children with burns covering 60 percent or more of their total body surface area should be immediately transferred to specialized burn units for improved therapies and higher likelihood of survival, reports a recently published article in Online First by The Lancet.
Shriners Hospitals for Children® — Galveston Chief of Staff and University of Texas Medical Branch surgeon David Herndon, M.D., one of the main authors of the research along with Dr. Marc Jeschke of Ross Tilley Burn Centre, University of Toronto, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Ontario, Canada, said the study shows that children with burn injuries are much more likely to suffer severe complications or die when the burns cover 60 percent or more of their total body surface area (TBSA.)
As a result, the authors recommend that all children with this level of injury be immediately transferred to specialized burns units and treated with novel drug treatments, new grafting techniques and materials, and life-support systems combined with improved sensitivity of monitoring methods.
“Specialized burn centers throughout the world immediately treat patients with 60 percent burns as a crucial threshold and move quickly towards incision of burn wounds, infection control, treating massive metabolic rates and early rehabilitation and exercises,” Dr. Herndon said.
Previous research in the 1990s suggested that a critical threshold of burns covering 40 percent or more TBSA resulted in increased risk of complications and death. However, during the past 10 years, additional improvements in care have further reduced morbidity and improved survival rates and outcomes after extensive burn injuries.
In this study, the authors assessed 952 pediatric burn patients between the ages of 6 and 10 who were treated at Shriners Hospital for Children — Galveston between 1998 and 2008.
About Shriners Hospitals for Children
Shriners Hospitals for Children is a health care system of 22 hospitals dedicated to improving the lives of children by providing pediatric specialty care, innovative research, and outstanding teaching programs for medical professionals. Children up to age 18 with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate are eligible for care and receive all services in a family-centered environment, regardless of the patients’ ability to pay.
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