'Lethal' burns. A progress report.
Sixteen consecutive patients, nine of whom also had inhalation injury, had burns over 72% body surface area or more. The expected death rate was 94%. In fact, all of the eight patients still alive after 48 hours survived. The early deaths were primarily due to inhalation injury, the treatment of which remains an unsolved problem. A mixture of cerium nitrate and silver sulfadiazine was used for topical wound antisepsis. The wound flora was sparse: 447 of 814 wound-surface cultures were sterile; Gram-negative bacteria were recovered in 13%. This efficacious wound bacteriostasis appeared primarily responsible for the absence of late death.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D002056:Burns / Q000382:microbiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D002059:Burns, Inhalation / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008722:Methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000209:etiology; D014946:Wound Infection / Q000382:microbiology