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Abstract
The ability to predict whether burn wounds will heal spontaneously or will require
skin grafting is important because of increasing utilization of primary excision and
grafting. This study prospectively evaluated the ability of heated laser Doppler flow
measurements obtained in the first 48 hours after burn injury to predict whether burn
wounds would heal within 3 weeks. Further, the severity of scarring at 3 months was
compared with the initial measurements. The measurements predicted healing with 100
percent accuracy and failure to heal with 93 percent accuracy. There was also a significant
correlation between initial flow measurements and severity of scarring at 3 months.
We conclude that heated laser Doppler flow measurements performed early after burn
injury are useful in predicting whether healing is likely to occur, as well as the
quality of late scar formation; therefore, the method is useful in selecting patients
for primary excision and grafting of burn wounds.
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References
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Article info
Footnotes
☆Supported in part by the Critical Care Foundation, Orange, California.
Identification
Copyright
© 1989 Published by Elsevier Inc.
