[Treatment of burned joints and functional recovery]

From 1979 to 1990, 33 operations on 29 patients with joint burn were performed by early debridement and primary repair with myocutaneous flaps. As a result, 29 wounds healed by first intention. The healing rate of early operations performed within 10 days postburn was 95.2%, and that of the late operations delayed more than 10 days post-burn was only 75.0%. 31 among 33 joints (93.9%) recovered full range of movement, while the other 2 joints ended with only slight limitation of function. We suggest that the early debridement and primary repair with myocutaneous flap is the best choice for treatment of burned bone and joints.