The determination of total burn surface area: How much difference?

Abstract

Burn depth and burn size are crucial determinants for assessing patients suffering from burns [1]. Therefore, a correct evaluation of these factors is optimal for adapting the appropriate treatment in modern burn care. Burn surface assessment is subject to considerable differences among clinicians [2].This work investigated the accuracy among experts based on conventional surface estimation methods (e.g. “Rule of Palm”, “Rule of Nines” or “Lund–Browder Chart”). The estimation results were compared to a computer-based evaluation method.Survey data was collected during one national and one international burn conference. The poll confirmed deviations of burn depth/size estimates of up to 62% in relation to the mean value of all participants. In comparison to the computer-based method, overestimation of up to 161% was found.We suggest introducing improved methods for burn depth/size assessment in clinical routine in order to efficiently allocate and distribute the available resources for practicing burn care.