Surgical wound debridement sequentially characterized in a porcine burn model with multispectral imaging

Multispectral imaging (MSI) is an optical technique that measures specific wavelengths of light reflected from wound site tissue to determine the severity of burn wounds. A rapid MSI device to measure burn depth and guide debridement will improve clinical decision making and diagnoses.

We used a porcine burn model to study partial thickness burns of varying severity. We made eight 4 × 4 cm burns on the dorsum of one minipig. Four burns were studied intact, and four burns underwent serial tangential excision. We imaged the burn sites with 400-1000 nm wavelengths.

Histology confirmed that we achieved various partial thickness burns. Analysis of spectral images show that MSI detects significant variations in the spectral profiles of healthy tissue, superficial partial thickness burns, and deep partial thickness burns. The absorbance spectra of 515, 542, 629, and 669 nm were the most accurate in distinguishing superficial from deep partial thickness burns, while the absorbance spectra of 972 nm was the most accurate in guiding the debridement process.

The ability to distinguish between partial thickness burns of varying severity to assess whether a patient requires surgery could be improved with an MSI device in a clinical setting.