ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of serial casting of burn contractures that were resistant to traditional methods of treatment such as paraffin therapy, massage, exercise, and splinting. Serial casting was used to increase the range of motion in 35 joints in 15 patients with burns. A mean increase of 54% was achieved. Casting provided immediate results with minimal complications and was accepted well by patients. Casts were easy to apply and effective even with noncompliant patients. They also delayed or eliminated the need for surgical correction.
Subject(s)
Burns/complications , Casts, Surgical , Contracture/rehabilitation , Physical Therapy Modalities , Adult , Burns/rehabilitation , Contracture/etiology , Elbow , Female , Humans , Knee , Male , Movement , WristABSTRACT
Significant loss of shoulder range of motion (ROM) in the early stages of burn recovery is a common and frustrating complication of burn injury. Pain is a primary reason for decreased motion: it prevents the patient from cooperating in an aggressive therapy program that could minimize contracture formation. To combat loss of movement without inflicting severe pain, the performance of ROM exercises and gentle passive stretching while patients were anesthetized was used as a treatment. A total of 59 treatments were performed on 14 patients who had limited unilateral or bilateral shoulder motion. A significant gain in shoulder ROM was attained when this treatment was performed and resulted in an increase in shoulder ROM when the patient was alert after anesthesia compared with preanesthesia measurements.
Subject(s)
Anesthesia, General , Burns/rehabilitation , Shoulder/physiology , Adult , Child , Contracture/prevention & control , Humans , Movement , Physical Therapy Modalities , Shoulder Joint/physiology , Wound HealingABSTRACT
This study evaluated a battery of nutritional measures and pre-operative clinical assessment as predictors of postoperative morbidity. Fifty-seven consecutive patients about to undergo major elective abdominal or thoracic surgery were surveyed. Thirty-two per cent of patients had three or more abnormal measurements of nutritional indices. Thirty patients had a total of 52 complications and in 12 patients these were major. The Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI), formulated by Mullen, was found to be the best predictor of postoperative outcome. It identified 10 of 12 (83%) patients who subsequently developed major complications with a specificity of 73%. Clinical assessment selected six of the 12 patients who developed major complications.
Subject(s)
Nutritional Status , Postoperative Complications/etiology , Abdomen/surgery , Aged , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , PrognosisSubject(s)
Hypnotics and Sedatives/chemical synthesis , Triazines/chemical synthesis , Anesthesia , Animals , Anticonvulsants , Behavior, Animal/drug effects , Cats , Cebus , Chemical Phenomena , Chemistry , Conflict, Psychological , Male , Mice , Motor Skills/drug effects , Rats , Reflex/drug effects , Triazines/pharmacologyABSTRACT
A series of mono-, bi-, and tricyclic pyrimidines and as-triazines was prepared and their antiinflammatory activity measured against carrageenan-induced edema in the rat. The more active analogues (ED50), including 4-pyri-dylpyrimidines 4a (38), 4b (47), and 4g (49) and 2-hydroxypyrimidine 8r (43), were then tested against adjuvant-induced edema in the rat. None was active in the adjuvant arthritis model.
