Enzymatic necrolysis of acute deep burns--report of preliminary results with 22 patients.

Enzymatic debridement by the use of a proteolytic enzyme complex derived, isolated and purified from pineapple stems proves to be an innovative, rapid, effective, selective and safe method of postburn necrotic skin removal. The major advantages of the procedure include minimal invasivity, rapidity, effectiveness, possibility to perform the debridement at the bedside, minimal or no loss of blood and minimal interference with natural wound healing processes. Our preliminary experience with this treatment method showed that in most of the cases treated the debridement was excellent, safe and rapid. The average duration of the debridement was less than 4 hours. The debridement was accompanied by minor to moderate pain which could be treated by analgetic medications. No serious adverse events or reactions have been observed during the study. The time for healing was comparable with the standard of care methods. The second randomized multicenter study is still in progress and has not yet been finished.

Analysis of 1119 burn injuries treated at the Bratislava Burn Department during a five-year period.

The Bratislava Burn Department was founded and started its activity 5 years ago. The department serves an area with 2.5 million of inhabitants with mixed both urban and rural population. We tried to analyze epidemiological data of 1119 acute burn injuries treated at the Department during a five-year period. All the data were compiled from statistical burn charts of in-patients. The average annual number of acute burn admissions including referrals was approximately 200 patients. We could see a distinct male predominance in almost all of the age groups with an average male to female ratio of 2.1:1. Children represented 38.1% of all the treated burn patients. The age group with the highest number of patients was in children 0-3 years with 237 patients (21.1%), and in adults 16-30 years with 197 patients (17.6%). The extent of burns varied between 1 and 99% of the BSA. The mean burn size was 15.7% of the BSA. The majority of the accidents were caused by hot liquids, followed closely by flame and/or explosion--they represented 43% and 36%, respectively. Concerning the place and/or cause of the accidents, the majority of burns occurred at homes, they represent 81.5% of the cases. Only 18.5% occurred at work, mostly in industry. Almost all of the injuries were caused by negligence. The rate of suicides by our patients was very low, less than 1%. 83 patients died, only 3 of them were children. The overall mortality rate was 7.3%. The mortality rate in children was as low as 0.7%. We compared our data with similar studies done in Kosice (Slovakia), Spain, and Brazil.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)