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Burns, Inhalation, and Lightning Injury

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Textbook of Emergency General Surgery

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Abstract

Burns represent one of the most devastating injuries to the human body. In the treatment of burns, a quick and accurate assessment of the burn injury is essential. Over the past decades, the prevalence of patient mortality has decreased dramatically. Still, major burns are a leading cause of morbidity, including prolonged hospitalization, functional disorders, and lifelong disfigurement. Adequate treatment during the first 24 h after the accident determines not only the survival of the patient but also his quality of life. The initial survey is aimed at identifying abnormalities that are vitally threatening as quickly as possible so that treatment can be started immediately. As patients with isolated severe burns should be considered as severely traumatized most of the emergency management-related procedures, for example, vascular access, tracheostomy, and fasciotomy are identical to those required by non-burn trauma patients and are therefore not covered here. The initial survey of burn patients requires a set of supportive procedures in addition to excision and closure operations.

Caring for a patient with severe burns is similar to a multitrauma patient (Santaniello et al., J Trauma, 57:696, 2004) following the modified method of the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) (Advanced Trauma Life Support® (ATLS®). ATLS for doctors student course manual, 10th ed., American College of Surgeons: Chicago, 2018), and the cABCDEffp method (Acute Pediatric Burns Course (APBC). APBC course manual, Radboud University Medical Center Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 2020). For the acute care of patients with severe burns, specific knowledge is needed to take the appropriate measures: for example, whether or not to intubate, to initiate fluid resuscitation, and to perform an escharotomy. Since children are not little adults, nuances are applied within these measures for children (Suma and Owen, BJA Educ, 20:103–110, 2020). The key aspects of Inhalation injury and lightning are also discussed in this chapter.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plastic Surgery, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Mariëlle Vehmeijer-Heeman

  2. Department of Traumasurgery, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Edward Tan

Authors
  1. Mariëlle Vehmeijer-Heeman
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  2. Edward Tan
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Correspondence to Edward Tan .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. General, Emergency and Trauma Surgery Dept., Pisa University Hospital, Pisa, Italy

    Federico Coccolini

  2. General and Emergency Surgery Dept., Bufalini Hospital, Cesena, Italy

    Fausto Catena

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Vehmeijer-Heeman, M., Tan, E. (2023). Burns, Inhalation, and Lightning Injury. In: Coccolini, F., Catena, F. (eds) Textbook of Emergency General Surgery. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22599-4_27

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22599-4_27

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-22598-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-22599-4

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