Lower Extremity Burns Research Articles

Outpatient or Short-Stay Skin Grafting with Early Ambulation for Lower-Extremity Burns

Lower-extremity burns and skin grafts to these wounds have traditionally required extended hospitalization. We have used early tangential excision of the burn wounds and application of an Unna boot to fresh skin grafts in an attempt to shorten the hospitalization for such patients. Over a six-month period, 9 patients were treated with Unna boots to fresh skin grafts on the lower extremity. The average hospital stay was 0.9 days (range, 0 to 3 days). Graft take was 85% to 100%; no regrafting was required. Ambulation was begun 24 hours postoperatively. The technique described is a safe, effective, and inexpensive alternative to prolonged immobilization and hospitalization in patients with lower-extremity skin grafts.

Skeletal suspension in complex treatment of patients with extensive and deep burns of lower extremities

Skeletal suspension of the extremities and the pelvis was applied to 23 patients with deep and extensive burns of the lower extremities, the buttocks and the pelvis. It was performed with the help of 2 methods: by suspension from Balkan frames fixed on the bed and in the Ilizarov apparatuses. The latter method of fixation of the extremities has a number of advantages. There was only one complication among the patients treated by skeletal suspension of the extremities and pelvis in the Ilizarov apparatus, namely a haemorrhage in the area of one of the upper pins, in the thigh. One patient died 3 months after the initial injury of serum hepatitis. His death was in no way connected with the above method of treatment. The rest of the patients have recovered and movements in all the joints of the lower extremities have been fully restored.