Autopsy findings in burn injuries

Over a 4-year period (1986-1990) forty autopsies of burned patients were performed. The male to female ratio was 1:2.3. The age ranged between 20-95 years. (57.5% of them belonging to the 61-95 age-group). The total burn surface area ranged between 20% to 95% and 26 patients (65%) had major burns (41-95% total burn surface area). Twenty-three of our patients survived for 1 to 10 days following the accident, eleven died between days 11-40 post burn and six patients survived the 41st post burn day. Almost 70% (28 cases) of our patients presented inhalation injury, and half (20 cases) presented multiple organ failure. The most frequently affected organ was lung (38 cases), followed by heart (23 cases), kidney (17 cases) and liver (15 cases). Multiple organ failure appeared to be unrelated to the onset and efficacy of fluid replacement. The aim of our study was to demonstrate the importance of close collaboration between the clinician and the pathologist and the clinical correlation between burn autopsy and management and therapy of burn injury.