Long-Term Outcomes after Burn Injuries: Strategies to Optimize Recovery

A special issue of European Burn Journal (ISSN 2673-1991).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 3106

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Professor Emeritus, UW Medicine Department of Surgery, Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA 98104, USA
Interests: hypertrophic scarring; neuropathic pain; return to work/school; functional recovery

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Co-Guest Editor
1. Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA
2. LAC+ USC Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA
Interests: reconstructive surgery; burn rehabilitation; disparities of care

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Co-Guest Editor
UW Medicine Department of Surgery, Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA 98104, USA
Interests: functional recovery after burn injury; return to work; nursing education; itch/ neuropathic pain

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Co-Guest Editor
1. Department of Surgery, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA
2. Burn Center, Parkland Hospital, Dallas, TX 75235, USA
Interests: comprehensive care of the burn-injured patient; quality improvement/ process improvement; extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO); burn critical care; scar reconstructive surgery

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past 50 years, survival after a major burn injury has exponentially increased. The single intervention that is most responsible for this improvement involves early excision and grafting, which closes the wound and mitigates the inflammatory and anabolic responses after injury. As burn providers, we too often myopically congratulate ourselves on survival, reduced lengths of hospital stay, and lower complication rates. However, patients and families invariably view the return to pre-injury lifestyles and roles, including recreational and vocational activities, as optimal an outcome. For too long, patient and medical provider views of successful burn outcomes have been incongruous.

It is time for the international burn community to acknowledge that burn injury may represent a chronic condition that benefits from long-term coordinated care focused on functional recovery.

Prof. Dr. Nicole S. Gibran
Dr. Haig Yenikomshian
Gretchen Carrougher
Dr. Samuel Mandell
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. European Burn Journal is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 971 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • psychological recovery trajectories
  • physical recovery trajectories
  • neuropathic pain
  • burns as a chronic condition
  • return to work/ school/ productivity
  • community re-integration
  • metabolic recovery
  • psychometric instruments
  • underserved populations
  • genetic determinants of long-term recovery

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 940 KiB  
Article
Outcomes of Patients with Amputation following Electrical Burn Injuries
by Eunyeop Kim, Bingchun Wan, Kyra Jeanine Solis-Beach and Karen Kowalske
Eur. Burn J. 2023, 4(3), 318-329; https://doi.org/10.3390/ebj4030029 - 17 Aug 2023
Viewed by 1045
Abstract
This study aimed to examine patients who sustained amputation as a result of electrical burns and to evaluate their long-term health outcomes compared to non-electrical burn patients with amputation. A retrospective analysis was conducted on burn patients from 1993 to 2021, utilizing the [...] Read more.
This study aimed to examine patients who sustained amputation as a result of electrical burns and to evaluate their long-term health outcomes compared to non-electrical burn patients with amputation. A retrospective analysis was conducted on burn patients from 1993 to 2021, utilizing the Burn Model System National Database, which includes the Veterans RAND 12-Item Health Survey and the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System 29. The data was collected at discharge, 6 months, and 12 months after the burns occurred. The findings revealed that the rate of amputation was significantly higher in electrical burn patients (30.3%) compared to non-electrical burn patients (6.6%) (p < 0.0001). At the time of discharge, electrical burn patients with amputation exhibited significantly lower physical component scores (PCS = 34.00 ± 8.98) than electrical burn patients without amputation (PCS = 44.66 ± 9.90) (p < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences in mental component scores observed between patients, regardless of the burn type or amputation. Among all patient groups, non-electrical burn survivors with amputation faced the greatest challenges in terms of physical and social well-being, likely due to larger total body surface area burns. This study emphasizes the importance of early rehabilitation for electrical burn patients with amputation and highlights the need for ongoing support, both physically and socially, for non-electrical burn survivors with amputation. These findings, consistent with previous studies, underscore the necessity of providing psychological support to all burn survivors. Full article
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11 pages, 282 KiB  
Article
Post-Burn Psychosocial Outcomes in Pediatric Minority Patients in the United States: An Observational Cohort Burn Model System Study
by Paul Won, Li Ding, Kara McMullen and Haig A. Yenikomshian
Eur. Burn J. 2023, 4(2), 173-183; https://doi.org/10.3390/ebj4020015 - 03 Apr 2023
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Abstract
Racial and ethnic minority burn patients face barriers to longitudinal psychosocial support after injury. Studies utilizing the Burn Model System (BMS) National Database report adult minority patients experience worse psychosocial outcomes in domains such as body image during burn recovery. No study to [...] Read more.
Racial and ethnic minority burn patients face barriers to longitudinal psychosocial support after injury. Studies utilizing the Burn Model System (BMS) National Database report adult minority patients experience worse psychosocial outcomes in domains such as body image during burn recovery. No study to date has investigated disparities in psychosocial outcomes by racial or ethnic category in the pediatric population using the BMS database. This observational cohort study addresses this gap and examines seven psychosocial outcomes (levels of anger, sadness, depression, anxiety, fatigue, peer relationships, and pain) in pediatric burn patients. The BMS database is a national collection of burn patient outcomes from four centers in the United States. BMS outcomes collected were analyzed using multi-level, linear mixed effects regression modeling to examine associations between race/ethnicity and outcomes at discharge after index hospitalization, and 6- and 12-months post-injury. A total of 275 pediatric patients were included, of which 199 (72.3%) were Hispanic. After burn injury, of which the total body surface area was significantly associated with racial/ethnicity category (p < 0.01), minority patients more often reported higher levels of sadness, fatigue, and pain interference and lower levels of peer relationships compared to Non-Hispanic, White patients, although no significant differences existed. Black patients reported significantly increased sadness at six months (β = 9.31, p = 0.02) compared to discharge. Following burn injury, adult minority patients report significantly worse psychosocial outcomes than non-minority patients. However, these differences are less profound in pediatric populations. Further investigation is needed to understand why this change happens as individuals become adults. Full article
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