Skeletal changes after burn injuries in an animal model.
Musculoskeletal deformities can develop after burn injuries. Seventy-five skeletally immature Sprague-Dawley rats were examined after infliction of full-thickness lower extremity scald burns to assess longitudinal growth, joint integrity, and bone composition. Longitudinal bone growth in the immediate postburn period was depressed. However, with the resumption of feeding and activity, normal growth ensued, unless the epiphyseal cartilage had been damaged by septic extension of the wound. Degenerative joint changes occurred in the burned limbs of six animals. Significant soft tissue contractures and collapse of the supporting subchondral bone were present in each of the affected knee joints. There was no evidence of joint sepsis. Large amounts of periosteal new bone consistently formed along the tibia beneath the burn wound. Sequential injections of fluorescent bone markers demonstrated that the stimulus for new bone formation corresponded with the presence of an open granulating burn wound. No further pathologic new bone formed after the wound had healed fully.
Bruno
L P
LP
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Stern
P J
PJ
Wyrick
J D
JD
D000818:Animals; D001846:Bone Development; D002056:Burns / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000473:pathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D007592:Joint Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D014945:Wound Healing