Stem cell strategies in burns care.

The prospect of being able to replace damaged tissue by the process of regeneration would dramatically and irrevocably change the impact, management and outcome of burns. The current understanding of stem cell-based modulation and therapy together with their potential developments do bring this prospect ever closer to a clinical reality. This paper gives a background to stem cell strategies in burns care and identifies actual or prospective applications which, collectively, will forever change burns care throughout the world.

Microsurgical reconstruction in children's burns.

There have been few reports on microsurgical procedures performed on children who have been left with disability and deformity as a result of burn injury. The reality is that whilst there are many children who could benefit from such procedures they do not have access to the resources that can provide them. Where these resources are available there has been a reluctance to use them partially due to a misconception that such procedures are technically challenging and carry significant risk.

Decompression not escharotomy in acute burns.

The concept of escharotomy has long been associated with acute burns care. Nevertheless the practice of escharotomy is frequently flawed and there is considerable diversity in the teaching of the procedure. It is proposed that there should be a fundamental change in the teaching of acute burn management and the concept of decompression should be promoted.

Paediatric burn prevention: an epidemiological approach.

Objective: To study the mechanism of burn in hospitalized paediatric burn patients in order to develop a focused burn prevention campaign.

Methods: Acute paediatric burn patients were identified from the unit admission records. Detailed medical records were reviewed to identify the key demographic and management information including the country of residence, age, gender, extent of injury, specific treatment and hospital stay.

Super sural neurofasciocutaneous flaps in acute traumatic heel reconstructions.

Conventional reversed sural flaps have been used to cover heel defects; however, the experience of the authors indicates that the reach of these flaps falls just short of the critical area to be covered. With the limitation being the location of the flap (the middle third of the leg), the authors thought that if the flap territory were extended proximally, they would have a super flap with immense potential. Nevertheless, the critical question remained, "How far?" The massive earthquake in January of 2001 in Gujarat, India, made medical personnel pressed for time, manpower, resources, and other ancillary supports.