title: The effect of levamisole on mortality rate among patients with severe burn injuries.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Burn injuries are one of the main causes of mortality and morbidity throughout the world and burn patients have higher chances for infection due to their decreased immune resistance. Levamisole, as an immunomodulation agent, stimulates the immune response against infection.
  
  
  METHODS
  This randomized clinical trial was conducted in Motahari Burn Center, Tehran, Iran. Patients who had second- or third-degree burn with involvement of more than 50% of total body surface area (TBSA) were studied. The levamisole group received levamisole tablet, 100 mg per day. Meantime, both the levamisole and control groups received the standard therapy of the Burn Center, based on a standard protocol. Then, the outcome of the patients was evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  237 patients entered the study. After excluding 42 patients with inhalation injury, electrical and chemical burns, and the patients who died in the first 72 h, 195 patients remained in the study, including 110 patients in the control group and 85 in the treatment group. The mean age of all patients (between 13 to 64 years) was 33.29 ± 11.39 years (Mean ± SD), and it was 33.86 ± 11.45 years in the control group and 32.57 ± 11.32 years in the treatment group. The mean percentage of TBSA burn was 64.50 ± 14.34 and 68.58 ± 14.55 for the levamisole and control groups, respectively, with the range of 50-100% and 50-95% TBSA. The mortality rate was 68 (61.8%) patients in the control group and 50 (58.8%) patients in the treatment group (P = 0.8).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to this study, there was no significant relationship between improvement of mortality and levamisole consumption.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Burn Research Center and Hazrat Fatemeh Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Javad
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Fatemi
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Burn Research Center and Motahari Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Salehi
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Burn Research Center and Hazrat Fatemeh Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akbari
authors.affiliation: Infectious Disease Specialist, Burn Research Center and Motahari Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Faranak
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Alinejad
authors.affiliation: Medicine, Quran and Hadith Research Center and Department of Community Medicine, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saberi
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Burn Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences and Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Jaber
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Mousavi
authors.affiliation: General Physician, Burn Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Majid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soltani
authors.affiliation: General Physician, Burn Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Shahrzad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Taghavi
authors.affiliation: Psychologist, Shahid Lavasani Hospital, Social Security Organization, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Payandan
keywords: Burn; immunomodulation agent; infection; levamisole