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The Critically Ill Burn Patient: How Do We Get It Right?

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Key Topics in Management of the Critically Ill

Abstract

Significant advances have been made in burn care over recent decades. Traditionally, the Baux score was used to predict mortality after burn injury (age in years plus percentage body burn equated to percentage mortality) however, this scoring system is now too pessimistic. Today, young adults with 76 % total body surface area (TBSA) burns have a 50 % chance of survival [1]. Nevertheless, burns >30% TBSA, as well as age over 60 years and presence of inhalation injury, are strong predictors of mortality [2].

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Abbreviations

ARDS:

Adult respiratory distress syndrome

BAL:

Bronchoalveolar lavage

BICU:

Burns intensive care unit

DIC:

Disseminated intravascular coagulation

IL:

Interleukin

LOS:

Length of stay

PGE2 :

Prostaglandin E2

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

TBSA:

Total body surface area

TNF-α:

Tumour necrosis factor alpha

VTE:

Venous thromboembolism

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Correspondence to Katherine Horner BSc, MSc, MRes, MBBS, FRCA .

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Horner, K., Isitt, C., Shida, A. (2016). The Critically Ill Burn Patient: How Do We Get It Right?. In: Vizcaychipi, M., Corredor, C. (eds) Key Topics in Management of the Critically Ill. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22377-3_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22377-3_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-22376-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-22377-3

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