Delayed cooling of an acute scald contact burn injury in a porcine model: is it worthwhile?

The current Australia and New Zealand Burn Association recommended burns first aid treatment is to place the burn under cool running water for 20 minutes. Immediate cooling of a burn wound has been shown to reduce the depth of the injury. Cooling has also been recommended as beneficial for up to 3 hours after the burn. No scientific data currently exist to support this recommendation. The aim of this study was to identify the effect of delayed cooling of an acute scald contact burn wound in a porcine model. Four partial-thickness contact scald burn injuries were induced in 12 piglets each. First aid treatment consisting of cool running water for 20 minutes was instituted randomly to each wound at different time points: immediately and at time delays of 5, 20, and 60 minutes. The group receiving immediate first aid with cool running water for 20 minutes served as the control group. At day 1 and day 9, biopsies were obtained and assessed in a blinded manner. Histologic analysis of burn depth on days 1 and 9 demonstrated no significant difference in the depth of the burn in the various treatment groups in comparison to the control group receiving immediate first aid. No significant differences in the surface areas of each burn were noted between the various treatment groups on day 9. Core body temperature did not fall below 35 degrees C throughout the cooling process. This study provides scientific evidence that in an animal model delayed cooling for up to 60 minutes postacute contact scald burn is still effective compared with immediate cooling at reducing burn depth.

Impact of laparoscopy on the management of transverse testicular ectopia.

Transverse testicular ectopia (TTE) is an uncommon condition with different clinical presentations. A significant proportion of cases are diagnosed only during surgery and it is important to define the precise anatomy and associated anomalies in every case of TTE. Laparoscopy is being increasingly adopted in the treatment of undescended testis, especially in cases where the testis is impalpable. We hereby report a child with a variant of TTE wherein laparoscopy proved enormously beneficial in diagnosis and treatment and where a routine groin exploration was likely to have yielded an incorrect diagnosis. We also review the available literature on the use of laparoscopy in the management of TTE and its impact on the ability of surgeons to diagnose and treat TTE and its associated conditions.

Optimal duration of cooling for an acute scald contact burn injury in a porcine model.

The Australian and New Zealand Burn Association recommend 20 minutes of cold running tap water as burn first aid. Scientific evidence for the optimal duration of treatment is limited. Our aim was to establish the optimal duration of cooling using cold running tap water to treat the acute burn. Partial thickness contact scald burns were induced at five sites in each of 17 pigs. Treatments with cold running tap water for 5, 10, 20, and 30 minutes were randomly allocated to different sites together with an untreated control site. In the running water 5 and 10 minute treatments intradermal temperatures rose by 1 degrees C per minute when cooling was stopped, compared with 0.5 degrees C per minute for 20 and 30 minutes duration. No differences in the surface area of each burn were noted between the five treatments on day 9. Histological analysis of burn depth on days 1 and 9 revealed that a higher proportion of burns treated for 20 and 30 minutes showed improvement compared with those treated for 5 and 10 minutes only. This difference reached statistical significance (P < .05) only in the cold running water for 20 minutes treatment arm. There was a statistically significant (P < .05) improvement in burn depth in a porcine acute scald burn injury model when the burn was treated with cold running tap water for 20 minutes as opposed to the other treatment durations. This study supports the current burn first aid treatment recommendations for the optimal duration of cooling an acute scald burn.

Assessment of cooling on an acute scald burn injury in a porcine model.

The current Australian and New Zealand Burn Association (ANZBA) recommended Burns First Aid Treatment is place the burn under cool running water for 20 minutes. Wet towels and water spray also have been used frequently. No scientific data exist to compare the effectiveness of these methods of cooling. This study sought to determine experimental evidence for current Burns First Aid Treatment recommendations and the optimal mode of cooling. Four partial-thickness scald burn injuries were induced in 10 piglets each. First aid was then applied for 20 minutes via cool running water, wet towels, or water spray, with no treatment as a control. At day 1 and day 9, biopsies and clinical photographs were assessed in a blinded manner. The control group showed worsening or no change of depth over the course of 9 days. The outcomes with wet towels and water spray were variable. Cool running water consistently demonstrated improvement in wound recovery over the course of 9 days (P < .05). This study demonstrated that cool running water appeared the most effective first aid for an acute scald burn wound in a porcine model compared with wet towels and water spray.

First-aid management of minor burns in children: a prospective study of children presenting to the Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the adequacy of first aid care following minor burns in children. DESIGN: Prospective case series. SETTING: Emergency Department and Acute Wound Clinic, the Children's Hospital at Westmead (CHW), Sydney. PARTICIPANTS: 109 children who presented with minor burns (10% body surface area or less) to CHW over the five months from 2 November 1998 to 23 March 1999. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Comparison of the adequacy of first aid delivered by parents and carers, general practitioners, local hospitals, and CHW. RESULTS: Burns included scalds, contact, flame, chemical or electrical burns. Adequate initial first aid had been given by parents or carers in only 24 of 109 cases (22%). The 85 children who presented to medical care after inadequate initial first aid was given by parents or carers included 14 of 14 (100%) who had presented to their general practitioner (GP), 22 of 31 (71%) who had presented to their local hospital, 22 of 38 (58%) who had presented to CHW, and 2 of 2 (100%) who had had first contact with other health professionals. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that there is a need to educate parents and health professionals regarding appropriate first aid for burns.