Self-inflicted burns: a sporadic phenomenon.

Self-inflicted burns are a regular cause of admission to burn units. Historically, a full moon has been associated with mental instability. Circadian rhythms and seasonal changes are known to influence human affect.

A review of the trends of self-inflicted burns.

During 1979-1998, 7139 patients were admitted to the Birmingham Burns Centre. Of these, 184 patients were identified with self-inflicted burns. There were 115 males and 69 females.

Revised estimates of mortality from burns in the last 20 years at the Birmingham Burns Centre.

The Birmingham Burns Centre has been regularly presenting its mortality estimates since its pioneering work in 1949 on the use of probit analysis. The last of these estimates that showed a significant improvement in survival was presented in 1971. This improvement was attributed to the introduction of topical 0.

Home inflation of tissue expanders: a safe and reliable alternative.

The concept of tissue expansion by the placement of inflatable subcutaneous silicone implants was popularised by Radovan in the late 1970s and is now widely used in clinical practice. After the initial placement of the expander, a series of outpatient visits is required during which the expander is serially inflated. These visits can be very stressful for the patient and are costly in terms of patient transport and clinic time.

Endothelin-1 levels in severe burn injuries.

Hypothesis: Most investigators have reported high levels of endothelin (ET)-1 in patients with thermal injury. We attempted to examine the hypothesis that ET-1 levels increase in patients with severe burn injury.

Patients And Methods: Plasma from 28 adult subjects, 14 of whom had thermal injuries with a median (range) percentage of total burn surface area of 22% (20%-76%), was assessed for ET-1 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha.