ABSTRACT
Burn surgery has gone through revolutionary changes during the last century, even the most severe burns can now be safely treated. Modern surgical treatments have been followed by improvements in intensive burn care and anaesthesiology. These developments have allowed immediate surgery within 24 hours of the injury to take place in our centre, therefore obtaining advantageous results in shortening hospital stay, improving patient's functional results and simplifying the treatment itself. This treatment is economically beneficial as well. In future we count on rapid development of a new discipline, tissue engineering, which should take a greater role in burn care.
Subject(s)
Burns/surgery , Plastic Surgery Procedures , Burn Units/organization & administration , Burns/nursing , Humans , Outpatient Clinics, Hospital/organization & administration , Patient Care Team , SwedenABSTRACT
We studied regeneration distance of rat sciatic nerve, with the sensory pinch reflex test and immunocytochemical staining for neurofilaments, four to 21 days after transsection, repair, and enclosure of the repair site in either a non-absorbable silicone tube or an absorbable polyglycolic acid (PGA) tube. The size of both tube-types was carefully selected so that they did not compress the repaired nerve. The opposite nerve was repaired and not inserted in a tube (control). The regeneration distances in repaired nerves enclosed in silicone tube were significantly longer than the control side at all time points, a result not seen when PGA tube was used. The number of proliferating non-neuronal cells (incorporation of 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU)) was studied just proximal to the site of nerve repair after six days. Numerous stained cells were seen, but there where no significant differences between the groups. We conclude that outgrowth of sensory axons after transsection and repair of rat sciatic nerve with sutures can be increased by enclosing the site of repair in a silicone tube but not in a PGA tube. The effect is probably not related to the number of proliferative non-neuronal cells.
