Evaluation of burn wound depth in pediatric patients is often difficult. A Laser Doppler Flowmeter with a temperature-controlled multichannel probe was used to measure burn wound perfusion as a tool to predict wound outcome. The average perfusion levels for wounds that healed spontaneously in fewer than 21 days was significantly higher than the average perfusion levels for wounds that required excision and grafting or were not healed by day 21 after burn injury. Laser Doppler Flowmetry showed high positive predictive values for "nonhealing" wounds on postburn days 1, 2, and 3. These results suggest that Laser Doppler Flowmetry is a useful tool for burn wound assessment in pediatric patients.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The 1996 Clinical Research award. Use of a pneumatonometer in burn scar assessment.

The evaluation of wound outcome after burn injury is a challenging problem in the performance of clinical trials evaluating potential impact on wound healing and scar formation. The purpose of this study was to determine whether an ocular tonometer could be adapted to provide an objective measurement of scar compliance. A pneumatonometer was used to perform measurements of cutaneous compliance at 8 anatomic areas (14 separate sites) on each of 17 normal volunteers and on 59 burn scars. Comparison of different anatomic sites showed there to be significant differences in the cutaneous compliance of different areas. The aggregate compliance of the burn scars in all sites was less than that of the control sites. These results indicate that the pneumatonometer can discern differences in the compliance of normal skin and differences between normal skin and scar and suggest that it may be a useful tool in the objective assessment of scar formation.

Awards and Prizes↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Brief: medical nursing grand rounds: learning, sharing, caring.

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Communication↗