A Single Institution's Surgical Care Model for Pediatric Burns With ≤10% Body Surface Area Involvement

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Surgery
• Burn Management
• Wound Healing

Background:

• Small burn injuries are common in children, presenting a clinical challenge due to the lack of standardized treatment algorithms.
• Current care for pediatric burns often relies on individual clinical judgment and available resources.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a two-stage grafting technique, combining allograft and autograft, for treating small burns in pediatric patients.
• To address the knowledge gap concerning optimal treatment strategies for pediatric burn wounds.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of pediatric patients (0-18 years) with small burns (≤10% total body surface area) treated between September 1, 2018, and September 1, 2022.
• Analysis of patients who underwent a two-stage grafting procedure involving initial allograft followed by autograft approximately one week later.

Main Results:

• The study included 175 patients with 220 wounds.
• Mean time to allograft surgery was 11.4 days, followed by autograft surgery about a week later.
• High rates of patient discharge within 24 hours post-surgery (87.4% after allograft, 81.1% after autograft) and excellent mean autograft take (97.7%) were observed.

Conclusions:

• The two-stage allograft-autograft technique is a viable and successful option for managing small pediatric burns.
• This approach contributes valuable data to the understanding of pediatric burn wound treatment, with potential for further investigation into aesthetic outcomes and comparative effectiveness.