This Journal feature begins with a case vignette that includes a therapeutic recommendation. A discussion of the clinical problem and the mechanism of benefit of this form of therapy follows. Major clinical studies, the clinical use of this therapy, and potential adverse effects are reviewed. Relevant formal guidelines, if they exist, are presented. The article ends with the author’s clinical r...

Nearly 1% of population is affected with burn trauma annually. Among patients seeking advanced medical care almost 8% require hospital stay. Most burns are superficial and do not cause full thickness damage to the skin. Standard topical treatment of burn wounds with creams and ointments requires frequent dressings' changes. The healing process is long and expensive. The technological revolution...

A series of cases involving button batteries lodged in the ear or nasal cavity is presented. All produced tissue destruction. Injuries were generally severe, and included tympanic membrane perforation (three patients) or total destruction (three), marked necrosis of dermis of the external ear canal with exposed bone (seven), documented further impairment of hearing (three), destruction of ossic...

Marc C Swan is Specialist Registrar, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, West Wing, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford; George Cherry is a Member of the Faculty of the Oxford University Medical School (retired) The acutely traumatic wound has a broad phenoptype: from superficial abrasions to full-thickness thermal burns. It is crucial that practitioners can identify compl...

Trichosporon asahii is a ubiquitous fungus that has been isolated as part of human microbiota. There has been an emergence of this pathogen in recent years, causing superficial and deep seated infections. There are scarce reports of urinary tract infections in pediatric intensive care burn units caused by this agent. We describe the cases of 2 pediatric patients with prolonged hospitalization d...

We conducted a retrospective study of all paediatric ocular injuries that were treated at the Prince of Wales Hospital between October 1991 and January 1997. Of the 60 injuries reviewed, eight (13.3%) resulted in some degree of visual deficit. The mean age was 5.5 years and the average male to female ratio was 2.75:1. The distribution of injuries was as follows: contusions, 29 (48.3%); non-pene...

In three previous studies the Water-Jel (WJ) system was found to protect burn wounds from microbial contamination, to have excellent analgesic and cooling effects when used as a first-aid dressing and to be bactericidal to 15 microorganisms including yeasts tested from the Ostrava Burn Unit. Now a new WJ system has been introduced without povidone iodine. An extensive bacteriological laboratory...