ABSTRACT
Background: Hypertrophic scars are one of the complications following a burn injury. Intralesional corticosteroid injection is an invasive method for treatment of this complication. We had design a single blinded randomized control trial to deliver dexamethasone by phonophoresis and evaluate its efficacy on hypertrophic burn scars characteristics
Methods: 56 cases of hypertrophic burn scar due to burn injury allocated randomly to dexamethasone and control group. Individuals in case group received 10 sessions of dexamethasone 0.4% phonophoresis. Patients in control group had placebo phonophoresis [ultrasound with normal routine aquatic gel without any dexamethasone] with the same protocol. At the beginning of study and one week after last session, hypertrophic scar characteristics and pruritus were measured by "Vancouver Scar Scale", and "5-D Pruritus Scale" respectively in both groups
Results: Despite mild improvement in Vancouver Scar Scale score one week after intervention in dexamethasone phonophoresis group in comparison to control subjects, but this difference was not significant [p<0/08]. Pruritus score perceived subjectively were significantly lower one week after intervention in dexamethasone groups in comparison to control subjects [p<0/01]
Conclusion: Dexamethasone phonophoresis is a safe and effective treatment method for burn hypertrophic scar pruritus, but its efficacy for scar characteristics improvement needs to be evaluated by larger studies with long-term follow up period