The validation study on a three-dimensional burn estimation smart-phone application: accurate, free and fast?

Area of Science:

• Medical technology
• Burn management
• Surgical innovation

Background:

• Accurate total body surface area burned (TBSAB) estimation is vital for early burn management and fluid resuscitation.
• Conventional estimation methods often result in significant discrepancies.
• A novel 3D smartphone application, 3D Burn Resuscitation (3D Burn), was developed to address these limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the accuracy of the 3D Burn application against conventional TBSAB estimation methods.
• To evaluate the efficacy of a new digital tool in burn management.

Main Methods:

• Simulated burn injuries were created on three volunteers (25%, 30%, 35% TBSA).
• Healthcare workers estimated burn percentages using the 3D Burn app and conventional methods (Rule of Palm, Rule of Nines, Lund and Browder chart).

Main Results:

• Conventional methods over-estimated burn area: Rule of Palm (10.6%), Rule of Nines (19.7%), Lund and Browder (8.3%).
• The 3D Burn app under-estimated by 1.9%, showing statistically significant accuracy improvements (p < 0.05).
• The 3D Burn application required a longer estimation time compared to traditional methods.

Conclusions:

• The 3D Burn application provides more accurate TBSAB measurements than conventional methods, despite a longer application time.
• This validation study supports the utility of the 3D Burn app in enhancing TBSAB measurement accuracy.
• Further multi-center and prospective studies on actual burn patients are recommended.