ABSTRACT
Hands participate in everyday human activities and they are the most vulnerable parts of a human body. The objective of this study is to understand the common causes of hand burns, the methods of surgical interventions, duration of hospitalization and distribution of hand burns in 11 year period regarding the age. This is a retrospective study that included 572 patients with hand burns treated at the Department of Plastic Surgery Kosovo during the period 2000-2010. The data were collected and analyzed from the archives and protocols of the University Clinical Center of Kosovo. Data processing was done with the statistical package InStat 3. From statistical parameters were calculated structural index, arithmetic median and standard deviation. Data testing is done with X (2) test and the difference is significant if P<0.05. The Ministry of Health of our country should make efforts to organize training for health workers about treatment for minor burns in order to reduce the number of referral patients from other primary (Familiar Medicine) and secondary centers (regional Hospitals).
ABSTRACT
Necrotising fasciitis (NF) is a destructive invasive infection of skin, subcutaneous tissue and deep fascia. The aim of the study is to determine the causative agents of NF, its localisation, predisposing factors and comorbid conditions, duration of treatment and distribution of NF in different age groups and over the years. We conducted a retrospective study including 22 patients with NF from 2005 to 2010 in the University Clinical Center of Kosovo. The data were collected and analysed from the archives and protocols of the University Clinical Center of Kosovo. The average age of patients was 56·9 years. In eight cases or 36·4% of total patients studied, NF was caused by monobacterial agents with a predominance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (five cases or 22·7% of total infections). Polybacterial agents were responsible for NF infection in other 14 cases (63·6%). Majority of the patients had other comorbidities like diabetes, trauma and prior history of surgical interventions. Diabetes was present in 17 patients or 77·3%. The remaining five patients (22·7%) had previous trauma and recent surgical intervention. Average length of treatment was 43 days. The hospital mortality rate in our case series was 22·6%. Early identification and diagnosis of NF significantly improves outcome and reduces mortality.