Effect of aggressive surgical treatment in older patients with burns

A group of 103 patients with burns, 65 years old and older, was compared with a similar group treated a decade ago. The survival rate of the early group was 37%, and the survival rate of the currently treated group is 52%. The length of stay in the hospital of surviving patients dropped from 42 to 22 days. Ten years ago 62% of surviving patients with burns in our series were operated on. In the more recently treated group with improved survival and decreased lengths of stay, 90% of the patients had one or more operations. We believe that early excision of eschar and early wound closure are associated with increased survival and decreased length of stay for older patients with burns.