[A practical method for the calculation of wound water loss in burn patients].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate a calculating method of wound water loss (WWL) in hospitalized burn patients.


METHODS
Eighty-five adult burn patients with total burn area over 50% were enrolled in the study. The WWL formula after shock stage (after 3rd postburn day) was given as: WWL (ml/%/kg/24 h) = [input (ml/24 h)-urine output (ml/24 h)-500 ml] / actual burn wound area(%) / body weight (kg). The result was compared with that determined by other formulas such as Davies, S.M.S.P and Lamke and palm rule.


RESULTS
The calculated daily WWL in burn patients after shock stage was found out to be 0.9 +/- 0.1 ml/%/kg/24 h by this method. This figure is comparable with that calculated by several different methods. Palm rule could be simply applied in the patients with body weight around 60 kg.


CONCLUSIONS
This method and palm rule were proved to be simple and practical for the calculation of WWL in burn patients, which could be applied in clinical work.
Zhang
Ming-Liang
ML
Department of Burns, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, Beijing 100035, P.R. China.
Wang
Hao
H
Chen
Hui
H
Chen
Xu
X
Zhou
Guang-Feng
GF
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D001834:Body Water / Q000378:metabolism; D002056:Burns / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014870:Water Loss, Insensible; D014883:Water-Electrolyte Imbalance