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Early Assessment of Burn Depth with Far Infrared Time-Lapse Thermography.
- Source :
-
Journal of the American College of Surgeons . Apr2018, Vol. 226 Issue 4, p687-693. 7p. - Publication Year :
- 2018
-
Abstract
- <bold>Background: </bold>Diagnosing the extremes of superficial burns and full-thickness burns is straightforward. It is in the middle ground of partial-thickness burns where the diagnostic difficulties emerge; it can take up to 3 to 5 days for signs of healing to appear. We hypothesize that cooling partial-thickness burns and tracking the rate of rewarming will immediately reflect the condition of the burn: shallow partial-thickness burns that retain cell health and blood flow will rewarm rapidly, and deeper burns with damaged microvessels will rewarm slowly.<bold>Study Design: </bold>We enrolled 16 patients with isolated, partial-thickness burns on their extremities who were diagnosed as indeterminate by our burn surgeon. Within 24 hours after presentation, room-temperature saline was poured over the burn as a cooling challenge. An infrared camera that was sensitive to body temperature produced false-color images showing pixel-by-pixel temperatures. A time-lapse recording from the infrared camera images taken as the burn rewarmed produced a time-temperature curve that reflected the kinetics of rewarming. The outcomes variable was whether or not the patient received a skin graft, which was determined 72 hours after presentation.<bold>Results: </bold>The method correctly predicted whether or not the patient required a skin graft.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>Here we report a new technique that permits determination of wound viability much earlier than clinical examination. Due to the simplicity of the method, non-experts can successfully perform the technique on the first day of the burn and make the correct diagnosis and decision to graft or not to graft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *MEDICAL thermography
*BURNS & scalds
*SKIN grafting
*BLOOD flow
*INFRARED cameras
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 10727515
- Volume :
- 226
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Journal of the American College of Surgeons
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 128514739
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2017.12.051