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Introduction: The necessity of treating hypertrophic burn scars has expanded significantly with increased burn survivorship. Ablative lasers, such as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) lasers, have been the most common nonoperative option for improving functional outcomes in severe recalcitrant hypertrophic burn scars. However, the overwhelming majority of ablative lasers used for this indication require a combination of systemic analgesia, sedation, and/or general anesthesia due to the painful nature of the procedure. More recently, the technology of ablative lasers has advanced and is more tolerable than their first-generation counterparts. Herein, we hypothesized that refractory hypertrophic burn scars can be treated by a CO 2 laser in an outpatient clinic., Methods: We enrolled 17 consecutive patients with chronic hypertrophic burn scars that were treated with a CO 2 laser. All patients were treated in the outpatient clinic with a combination of a topical solution (23% lidocaine and 7% tetracaine) applied to the scar 30 minutes before the procedure, Cryo 6 air chiller by Zimmer, and some patients received a mixture of N 2 O/O 2 . Laser treatments were repeated every 4 to 8 weeks until the patient's goals were met. Each patient completed a standardized questionnaire to assess tolerability and patient satisfaction of functional results., Results: All patients tolerated the laser well in the outpatient clinic setting, with 0% indicating "not tolerable," 70.6% "tolerable," and 29.4% "very tolerable." Each patient received more than 1 laser treatment for the following complaints: decreased range of motion (n = 16, 94.1%), pain (n = 11, 64.7%), or pruritis (n = 12, 70.6%). Patients were also satisfied with the results of the laser treatments ("no improvement or worsened" = 0%, "improved" = 47.1%, and "significant improvement" = 52.9%). The age of patient, type of burn, location of burn, presence of skin graft, or age of scar did not significantly affect the tolerability of treatment or satisfaction of outcome., Conclusions: The treatment of chronic hypertrophic burn scars with a CO 2 laser is well tolerated in an outpatient clinic setting in select patients. Patients reported a high level of satisfaction with notable improvement in functional and cosmetic outcomes., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest and sources of funding: none declared., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

There are few published reports on the unique nature of burn patients using a paired spontaneous awakening and spontaneous breathing protocol. A combined protocol was implemented in our burn intensive care unit (ICU) on January 1, 2012. This study evaluates the impact of this protocol on patient outcomes in a burn ICU. We performed a retrospective review of our burn registry over 4 years, including all patients placed on mechanical ventilation. In the latter 2 years, patients meeting criteria underwent daily spontaneous awakening trial; if successful, spontaneous breathing trial was performed. Patient data included age, burn size, percent full-thickness burn, tracheostomy, and inhalation injury. Outcome measures included ventilator days, ICU and hospital lengths of stay, pneumonia, and disposition. Data were analyzed using Graphpad Prism and IBM SPSS software, with statistical significance defined as P < .05. There were 171 admissions in the preprotocol period and 136 after protocol implementation. Protocol patients had greater percent full-thickness burns, but did not differ in other characteristics. The protocol group had significantly shorter ICU length of stay, fewer ventilator days, and lower pneumonia incidence. Hospital length of stay, disposition, and mortality were not significantly different. Among patients with inhalation injuries, the protocol group exhibited fewer ventilator and ICU days. Protocol implementation in a burn ICU was accompanied by decreased ventilator days and a reduced incidence of pneumonia. A combined spontaneous awakening and breathing protocol is safe and may improve clinical practice in the burn ICU.