Early Serial Casting for Palmar Burns to Prevent Contractures

Abstract

Palmar burn injuries cause scar contracture in patients requiring long term therapy and contracture release to achieve optimal outcome. Serial casting is employed at many burn centers as a method of preventing and correcting scar contractures, particularly at the elbow. At our regional burn center, we have used early serial casting for palmar burns to prevent palmar contractures. We have retrospectively reviewed the records of 64 patients with palmar burns requiring skin grafts (full and split thickness) admitted in the time period between Jan. 1999-Jan. 2005. Each of these patients underwent skin grafting and serial casting, with a long or short arm cast, and most patients were casted from the date of grafting until the graft was healed and the hypertrophic scar had started to mature. 64 patients, ages 5 months to 72 years, mean 9.8 years, underwent serial casting for palmar burns. Our population consisted of 21 females and...