Burn wound biopsy. Multiple uses in patient management

It is often exceedingly difficult to initially evaluate the depth of a burn wound and thus inaugurate appropriate definitive therapy. The clinical picture of the burn would may not always correlate with the true histologic depth of the injury. For this reason we have undertaken a program of obtaining punch biopsies of burn wounds in patients where the depth of the burn wound is equivocal. In such cases the biopsy has proven to be useful in guiding subsequent therapy. In addition to establishing the anatomic depth of injury, there are several other valuable uses of burn wound biopsies. The other uses are: diagnosis of invasive infection, quantitative bacterial culture, medical-legal values, psychological values and forensic utility.