Comparative Analysis of Early Excision and Grafting vs Delayed Grafting in Burn Patients in a Developing Country

The present study attempts to compare how the patients who undergo early excision and grafting behave as compared with patients who are treated along usual conservative lines of management in centers where the resources are less than optimal. The data of 20 female patients were analyzed. Age of the patients ranged between 20 and 30 years, percentage area burn ranged between 20 and 40%, and percentage area resurfaced by skin grafting 5 to 10%. The patients were divided into two groups of 10 patients each. Group I included those patients who underwent early excision and grafting within 5 days of burn injury. Group II included those patients who were treated conservatively and the residual raw area was grafted 3 weeks or more after sustaining the burn. The two groups were compared for the amount of blood loss, transfusion requirement, graft take, and the total hospital stay. Statistical significance was tested by the application of Mann-Whitney U test. The mean percentage area burn was 29.1 ± 5.6% in group I and 24.7 ± 4.9% in group II. Mean percentage area resurfaced by skin grafting in group I was 9.4 ± 2.3% and 8.1 ± 1.6% in group II. Graft take in group I was 90 ± 7.8%, whereas that in group II was 95 ± 6.7%. Mean blood loss in group I and group II was 346 ± 17.6 ml and 241 ± 14.7 ml respectively. (P = .001). Mean transfusion requirement in the perioperative period was 1.6 pints in group I and 1.1 pints in group II. The mean hospital stay in the patients who underwent early excision and grafting was 15.1 ± 4.1 days, whereas that in the patients who underwent delayed grafting was 36.2 ± 6.3 days (P = .001). Early excision and grafting decreases the hospital stay of burn patients. The present study suggests that it has a definite applicability even in places where the resources might be less than optimal.