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Volume XX |
Number 3 |
September 2007 |
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SUMMARIES
| 115 |
BURN SAFETY KNOWLEDGE IN ADULT NIGERIANS
(Olabanji J.K., Oladele A.O., Oginni F.O., Oseni O.G. - Nigeria)
Burn injuries remain a global problem even though they are largely preventable. Adequate knowledge is essential to good burn safety practices. This aids prevention and minimizes severity when burn injuries occur. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of burn safety knowledge among literate adult Nigerians in Ile-Ife and Ilesa, South-western Nigeria. We elicited a paucity of burn safety knowledge in the population studied, but a high level of formal education corresponded to a higher degree of burn safety knowledge. There is a need to introduce burn safety education into the school curriculum at all levels of education in order to increase burn safety awareness. |
| 121 |
PAEDIATRIC BURNS IN SULAIMANI, IRAQ
(Kadir A.R. - Iraq)
Burns are the most frequent injury among paediatric patients. The injury, treatment, and rehabilitation process affect children not only physiologically but also psychologically. In this prospective study of burn victims aged 12 yr and less hospitalized in our burns centre (Emergency Hospital) between July 2001 and August 2005, three age groups were considered (0-12 months, 1-6 yr, and 7-12 yr), distinguished on the basis of children's predominant activity and behaviour. The study reports on the characteristics of burn injuries in children hospitalized in the Emergency Hospital at the burns centre in Sulaimani, Iraq. In the period of study, 3550 children with burn injuries were treated in our burns centre (in-patients and out-patients), made up 44% (3550/8000) of all burn victims treated in our burns centre in that period. The children's mean age was 4.03 ± 1.62 yr. The male/female ratio was 1:1.1 (1725/1825). Scald burns, accounting for 79.4% of the cases, were the commonest injuries in the study, compared with 20.6% non-scald burns. Most of the injuries happened in the home (74.7%). The trunk was affected in 78.6% of all patients studied. Meal times (especially dinner, 6-9 p.m., and lunch 11 a.m.-2 p.m) clearly had the highest number of accidents. There were more paediatric burns in the colder months (38.2% in winter). Surgery was performed in 553 patients (15.6%). In the five years studied, there were 411 in-hospital child deaths due to burns (11.5%). |
| 126 |
UNUSUAL ELECTRIC BURNS CAUSED BY COMMUNICATION DISC CONTACT WITH A HIGH-VOLTAGE ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION CABLE: A POTENTIAL OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD
(Fadeyibi I.O., Izegbu M.C., Benebo A.S., Ademuluyi S.A. - Lagos)
The case reported is that of a communications technician admitted to hospital with 38% burns sustained while climbing a communications mast. The mast was erected less than 3 metres from a 33 kv electric transmission cable. His condition is described, as also the treatment he received until his discharge three months later. In the absence of guidelines regarding the erection of such masts, a number of recommendations are made. |
| 129 |
LES SEQUELLES DE BRULURES: EPIDEMIOLOGIE ET TRAITEMENTS
(Chafiki N., Fassi Fihri J., Boukind E.H. - Maroc)
Il s'agit d'une étude épidémiologique des séquelles de brûlures à propos de 100 cas colligés au service de chirurgie réparatrice et de brûlés du centre hospitalier universitaire Ibn Rochd. Les adultes représentent 55% de la population étudiée, l'âge moyen global est de 20 ans. Le sexe féminin est le plus touché avec 61% des cas. Plus de la moitié de la population brûlée (55%) est accueillie initialement au niveau d'hôpitaux régionaux. Le délai de cicatrisation moyen est de 7 mois et 11 jours et la constitution de séquelles mineures (dyschromie dans 90% des cas et prurit dans 49% des cas) et majeures (rétractions dans 86% et l'hypertrophie dans 51%) est fréquente. La répartition globale des séquelles montre une prédominance du segment cervicocéphalique, avec 89% des cas, et des membres supérieurs, dans 82% des cas. Les différents aspects anatomocliniques ont été décrits au niveau de chaque segment corporel en comparant les techniques chirurgicales utilisées à celles de la littérature. L'étude des différents résultats nous a poussés à proposer une large campagne de prévention, permettant de réduire le nombre de séquelles mais aussi de diminuer leur sévérité. |
| 137 |
TOPICAL APPLICATION OF HONEY FOR BURN WOUND TREATMENT - AN OVERVIEW
(Subrahmanyam M. - India)
The use of honey in the treatment of burn wounds is discussed and an attempt is made to assess honey's current status as a burn wound dressing. Various kinds of honey are considered, as also the history of its use for this purpose since ancient times. The scientific reasons for honey's appropriateness in burns treatment are reviewed and an account is provided of the main benefits of such treatment. |
| 140 |
SPREAD OF BURN AND NON-BURN PATHOLOGIES, ANAESTHETIC SUPPORT AND SOME MANAGEMENT DATA
(Belba M., Belba G. - Albania)
In this article we present the surgical activity of the Burns Service in the University Hospital Centre in Tirana. Not only burn patients but also patients with trauma and soft tissue losses are hospitalized in a burns centre, as well as patients needing plastic surgery coming from similar specialities. In 2006, 1127 patients were subjected to surgery in our service. The techniques of anaesthesia used are general anaesthesia (endotracheal tube, laryngeal mask airway, intravenous) and regional anaesthesia. An anaesthesiologist acting in the role of physician manager can add significant value to the overall operating room process by improving efficiency in resource utilization and simultaneously quality of care. We have found that giving priority to burns, including burns sequelae and other hospitalized burn patients, if possible in day surgery, can optimize the bed occupancy rate. |
| 144 |
MANAGEMENT OF THE ACUTE PARTIAL-THICKNESS BURNED HAND; MOIST EXPOSED BURN OINTMENT OR SILVER SULPHADIAZINE CREAM BOTH COMBINED WITH A POLYETHYLENE BAG
(Allam A.M., Mostafa W., Zayed E., El-Gamaly J. - Egypt)
Hand burns predominantly affect young adults, and therefore have serious social and financial implications. In the present work, 106 patients with less than 25% body surface area burns and acute partial-thickness burned hands were managed using polyethylene bags and 1% local silver sulphadiazine (SSD) cream or moist exposed burn ointment (MEBO). Females made up 61.3% of the cases and flame burn was the majority cause (54.7%). There were no significant differences between the two groups regarding either the analgesic effect after local ointment application or hand movement inside the polyethylene bag. Local agent crustation over the wound was very evident in the hands managed by local 1% SSD cream (69.81%). On follow-up, the burned hands healed faster using local MEBO (10.48 versus 14.53 days), with fewer post-burn hand deformities and better active hand movements; however, the total cost until complete hand burn wound healing was higher with MEBO than with 1% SSD, although the final results were superior, with early return to work, when MEBO was used. We concluded that the use of MEBO as a topical agent and of polyethylene bags for the dressing of the acute partial-thickness burned hand accelerated healing; daily wound evaluation was easy as there was no crustation over it of the agent. It was more expensive than 1% SSD cream but presented fewer post-burn complications and more rapid healing, with shorter hospital stay. |
| 149 |
INTERMINGLED SKIN GRAFTING: A VALID TRANSPLANTATION METHOD AT LOW COST
(Domres B., Kistler D., Rutczynska J. - Germany)
The almost forgotten method of intermingled skin grafting of allogeneic material with small autogeneic islets, once developed in the People's Republic of China, proves the feasibility of permanent healing of even extensive burn wounds, at low cost, and therefore an effective treatment possibility in poorer countries, as well as under conditions of a burn disaster. Intermingled skin grafting obtains a better elasticity of the reconditioned skin as elastic fibres of the allodermis survive, and this results in fewer contractures. From the cosmetic point of view the transplantation of autologous keratinocytes results in a better aesthetic homogeneous texture. |
| 155 |
OPERATIVE GUIDELINES IN BURNS EMERGENCIES IN A BATTLE ENVIRONMENT
(Lt. Col. Durante C.M. - Italy)
An account is presented of the current rules to be followed in the approach to burn patient treatment, in the light of the experience gained by the Italian Army Medical Corps in the numerous humanitarian missions performed outside Italy's national borders. |
| 159 |
CASE REPORT: MARJOLIN'S ULCERS ON THE THIGH TWO YEARS AFTER BURN
(Olaitan P.B., Ogbonnaya I.S. - Nigeria)
An 18-yr-old female patient presented to our unit two years after she had sustained a flame burn, with a three-month history of a right thigh scar ulcer. The ulcer had rapidly progressed with involvement of the sciatic nerve and infiltration of the right femur. Biopsy of the ulcer revealed squamous cell carcinoma. The patient however died shortly after admission from an overwhelming sepsis. The rarity of early onset of Marjolin's ulcer and the rapidity of fatality in this case constitute the reasons for presenting this report. |
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