Wound infection among children with moderate burns - An explorative review of the association between reported frequency and diagnosis

INTRODUCTION

The Linkoping burn centre in Sweden has, even though being a high income country, reported high burn wound infections (BWI) frequencies in scalded children compared to similar populations in other parts of the world.

AIM

The aim was to investigate possible explanations for differences in frequency of BWI among children with partial thickness burns treated at the Linköping burn centre in Sweden, and that reported in other studies.

METHOD

In order to investigate what BWI criteria that were used in similar studies a literature search on PubMed Central was done along with a retrospective analysis of children previously diagnosed as infected to confirm or reject the high infection frequency reported earlier.

RESULT

Of the 34 selected publications reporting on BWI frequency 16 (47%) did not define a criteria for the BWI diagnosis and almost a third did not report on wound culturing. Of those who did report the use a third do not mention any bacterial growth found is these cultures. The retrospective analysis on children at the centre did not show any decrease in infection frequency even with some disagreement on onset for the BWI.

CONCLUSION

The reporting of criteria and diagnosis of burn wound infection is highly variable making it difficult to interpret results and come to conclusions. The high frequency of BWI at the centre might be a result of close monitoring due to study participation, use of clean instead of sterile routine at dressing changes or low thresholds for the diagnosis in respect to changes in infection markers.

Suprathel® or Mepilex® Ag for treatment of partial thickness burns in children: A case control study

AIM

The study aim was to investigate if Suprathel® can be an adequate alternative to Mepilex® Ag for the treatment of partial-thickness scalds in children.

METHODS

A retrospective study including 58 children admitted to The Burn Centre in Linköping, Sweden between year 2015 and 2022. Of the 58 children, 30 were dressed with Suprathel ® and 28 with Mepilex ® Ag. Outcomes investigated were healing time, burn wound infection (BWI), need for operations and number of dressing changes.

RESULTS

We found no significant differences in any of the outcomes. In the Suprathel ® group 17 children and in the Mepilex ® Ag group 15 children were healed within 14 days. Ten children from each group received antibiotics for suspected BWI and two from each group underwent an operation with skin grafting. Each group had on median four dressing changes.

CONCLUSIONS

Two different treatments were compared for children with partial-thickness scalds, and the data indicates that similar results are received with both dressings.

Burn scar outcome at six and 12 months after injury in children with partial thickness scalds: Effects of dressing treatment

INTRODUCTION

In line with other researchers in the field of burns' care, we think that research investigating the long-term outcome of scars is largely lacking. As scarring is of the utmost importance to the patient, clinicians who treat burns must aim to find treatments that lead to a good end result. The aim of this study was to study scar outcomes at six and 12 months after injury. It is an extension of a previous randomised controlled trial (RCT) in which two dressings (porcine xenograft and silver foam dressing) were examined with respect to their ability to help heal partial thickness scalds.

METHOD

Children aged six months - six years with acute partial thickness scalds, on the trunk, or extremities, or both, were included. In the previous study, the silver foam was found to have significantly shorter healing times than the xenograft. Children were assessed at six and 12 months after injury for this study, and photographs were taken of the burn site, and both the patient and observer scar assessment scale (POSAS) and the Vancouver scar scale (VSS) were completed and evaluated by blinded observers.

RESULTS

Of the 58 children from the original RCT, 39 returned to the clinic for evaluation of their scars at six months, and 34 at 12 months after injury. There were no differences in POSAS, VSS total scores, or incidence of hypertrophic scarring between the different dressings. Fifteen children were assessed as having hypertrophic scarring, all of whom had healing times that had extended beyond 14 days.

CONCLUSIONS

This study compared burn scarring after two different treatments for burns in children with partial-thickness scalds and the data suggested that neither dressing had a more favourable impact on scar outcome. The conclusion is, however, tempered by the non-return of all the patients to the follow up. However, as anticipated, regardless of the dressing used, longer healing times were associated with higher scar scores (more scarring) and hypertrophic scarring.

Superiority of silver-foam over porcine xenograft dressings for treatment of scalds in children: A prospective randomised controlled trial

AIM

Our aim was to compare two different regimens for the treatment of children with partial-thickness scalds. These were treated with either a porcine xenograft (EZderm^®, Mölnlycke Health Care, Gothenburg, Sweden) or a silver-foam dressing (Mepilex^® Ag, Mölnlycke Health Care, Gothenburg, Sweden).

METHODS

We organised a prospective randomised clinical trial that included 58 children admitted between May 2015 and May 2018 with partial-thickness scalds to The Burn Centre in Linkoping, Sweden. The primary outcome was time to healing. Secondary outcomes were pain, need for operation, wound infection, duration of hospital stay, changes of dressings, and time taken.

RESULTS

The patients treated with silver-foam dressing had a significantly shorter healing time. The median time to 97% healing for this group was 9 (7-23) days compared to 15 (9-29) days in the porcine xenograft group (p = 0.004). The median time to complete healing for the silver-foam group was 15 (9-29) days and for the porcine xenograft group 20.5 (11-42) days (p = 0.010). Pain, wound infection, duration of hospital stay, and the proportion of operations were similar between the groups. Number of dressing changes and time for dressing changes were lower in the silver-foam dressing group (p = 0.03 for both variables).

CONCLUSIONS

We compared two different treatments for children with partial-thickness scalds, and the data indicate that wound healing was faster, fewer dressing changes were needed, and dressing times were shorter in the silver-foam group.

Comparative effectiveness of Biobrane®, RECELL® Autologous skin Cell suspension and Silver dressings in partial thickness paediatric burns: BRACS randomised trial protocol

BACKGROUND

Mixed partial thickness burns are the most common depth of burn injury managed at a large Australian paediatric hospital specialty burns unit. Prolonged time until re-epithelialisation is associated with increased burn depth and scar formation. Whilst current wound management approaches have benefits such as anti-microbial cover, these are not without inherent limitations including multiple dressing changes. The Biobrane® RECELL® Autologous skin Cell suspension and Silver dressings (BRACS) trial aims to identify the most effective wound management approach for mixed partial thickness injuries in children.

METHODS

All children presenting with an acute burn injury to the study site will be screened for eligibility. This is a single-centre, three-arm, parallel group, randomised trial. Children younger than 16 years, with burns ≥ 5% total body surface area involving any anatomical location, up to 48 h after the burn injury, and of a superficial partial to mid-dermal depth, will be included. A sample size of 84 participants will be randomised to standard silver dressing or a Regenerative Epithelial Suspension (RES™) with Biobrane® or Biobrane® alone. The first dressing will be applied under general anaesthesia and subsequent dressings will be changed every 3 to 5 days until the wound is ≥ 95% re-epithelialised, with re-epithelialisation time the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes of acute pain, acute itch, scar severity, health-related quality of life, treatment satisfaction, dressing application ease and healthcare resource use will be assessed at each dressing change and 3, 6 and 12 months post-burn injury.

DISCUSSION

The findings of this study can potentially change the wound management approach for superficial partial to mid-dermal burns in children locally and worldwide.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

The Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12618000245291) approved prospective registration on 15 February 2018. Registration details can be viewed at https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=374272&isReview=true.

Usability and effectiveness of Suprathel® in partial thickness burns in children

Purpose

Evaluation of usability and effectiveness of Suprathel^® in the treatment of partial thickness burns in children.

Methods

A prospective, observational study to evaluate adherence of Suprathel^® to the wound bed, reepithelialization time, grafting, wound colonization and infection, pain, dressing changes, length of hospital stay (LOS) and scar formation.

Results

Twenty-one children (median age 2.4 years, range 5 months–14 years) with a median total body surface area (TBSA) of 4 % (range 1–18) were included. Median LOS was 10 days (range 3–20). Median outer layer dressing changes was 3 (range 1–14). Suprathel^® was only adherent in wounds debrided with Versajet^®. Median reepithelialization time was 13 days (range 7–29). Three patients needed a split skin graft. There were 7 (33 %) patients with wound colonization before application of Suprathel^®. This increased to 12 (57 %) patients during treatment. One patient developed a wound infection. Median visual analog scale (VAS) scores for background and procedural pain in patients >7 years were 3.2 (range 2–5) and 3.5 (range 2–5), respectively. In younger patients, median background and procedural COMFORT-B scores were 13.8 (range 10–23) and 14.8 (range 13–23, p = 0.03), respectively. Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS) scores were favorable after 3 and 6 months post burn.

Conclusions

Suprathel^® provides potential advantages regarding pain and scar formation, but extensive wound debridement is needed to achieve adequate adherence.

Keratin-based products for effective wound care management in superficial and partial thickness burns injuries

This n=40 cohort study on superficial and partial thickness burns compares novel keratin-based products with the standard products used at our facility. The keratin products are found to facilitate healing with minimal scarring, be well tolerated with minimal pain and itch, be easy to use for the health professional and be cost effective for the health care provider. For these reasons they are being adopted into use at our facility.

Porcine xenografts vs. (cryopreserved) allografts in the management of partial thickness burns: is there a clinical difference?

Porcine xenografts and cryopreserved allografts are used for the management of partial thickness burns and both biological materials have strong advocates with regard to clinical performance, the possibility of disease transfer from donor to recipient and other clinical aspects. A literature analysis was performed in an attempt to investigate whether true (statistically significant) differences exist on clinical performance and on other determinants for use. Comparing the results of this study with a similar, previously published study performed on possible differences amongst different types of allograft in the management of partial thickness burns, both allografts and porcine xenograft seem to perform equally well clinically with regard to healing related outcomes. In addition, the risk of disease transfer, in real life, was shown to be minimal. Consequently, clinical aspects being equal, other aspects such as price and availability should be used to decide which material to use for the management of partial thickness burns.