Use of Air Transport for Minor Burns: Is There Room for Improvement?

Since 1981, the number of US burn centers has decreased by 29%, resulting in more long distance referrals to remaining facilities. Air transport is often the only feasible method for remote patients to reach few remaining burn centers. A significant proportion of flown-in patients have minor burns and are discharged within 24 hours, representing potential over-utilization of resources with increased cost to the healthcare system for no perceptible benefit.

Does a Nebulized Heparin/N-acetylcysteine Protocol Improve Outcomes in Adult Smoke Inhalation?

Background: Smoke inhalation is a major source of morbidity and mortality. Heparin and N-acetylcysteine treatment has potential efficacy in inhalation injury. We investigated the impact of a heparin/N-acetylcysteine/albuterol nebulization protocol in adult patients with inhalation injury.

An athymic rat model of cutaneous radiation injury designed to study human tissue-based wound therapy.

Purpose: To describe a pilot study for a novel preclinical model used to test human tissue-based therapies in the setting of cutaneous radiation injury.

Methods: A protocol was designed to irradiate the skin of athymic rats while sparing the body and internal organs by utilizing a non-occlusive skin clamp along with an x-ray image guided stereotactic irradiator. Each rat was irradiated both on the right and the left flank with a circular field at a 20 cm source-to-surface distance (SSD).

The use of non-invasive instruments in characterizing human facial and abdominal skin.

Background And Objective: The skin is highly variable. This variation, although helpful for function, causes inconsistencies when assessed using subjective scales. The purpose of this study is to measure differences in skin on the face and abdomen using non-invasive, objective devices as a method to eliminate subjective error and help reduce intra- and inter-observer variability in clinical analysis.