Blast Injuries and Burn Care
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Photos courtesy NC Burn Disaster Program
Civilian injured by RPG.
Civilian injured by RPG.
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Photos courtesy NC Burn Disaster Program
Most of this patient's burn injuries are partial-thickness, but one critical consideration for ongoing assessment is chest wall expansion. Escharotomy is not indicated at this point. However, if...
Most of this patient's burn injuries are partial-thickness, but one critical consideration for ongoing assessment is chest wall expansion. Escharotomy is not indicated at this point. However, if the patient develops difficulty breathing and chest expansion becomes taut because of the burn injury, surgical incisions through the dead tissue (escharotomy) to relieve the constriction may be necessary. Escharotomy is typically performed by a surgeon/physician; always follow your local protocol.
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Photos courtesy NC Burn Disaster Program
Most of this patient's burn injuries are partial-thickness, but one critical consideration for ongoing assessment is chest wall expansion. Escharotomy is not indicated at this point. However, if...
Most of this patient's burn injuries are partial-thickness, but one critical consideration for ongoing assessment is chest wall expansion. Escharotomy is not indicated at this point. However, if the patient develops difficulty breathing and chest expansion becomes taut because of the burn injury, surgical incisions through the dead tissue (escharotomy) to relieve the constriction may be necessary. Escharotomy is typically performed by a surgeon/physician; always follow your local protocol.
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Photos courtesy NC Burn Disaster Program
Blast injury presenting with both thermal burns and large avulsion with partial amputation. The full-thickness thermal burn involves the arm and the patient's right lateral chest wall. This patient is...
Blast injury presenting with both thermal burns and large avulsion with partial amputation. The full-thickness thermal burn involves the arm and the patient's right lateral chest wall. This patient is intubated, and a bag-valve mask is being used to ventilate the patient.
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Components of a blast injury include the blast wave and shrapnel carried by the blast wave.
Components of a blast injury include the blast wave and shrapnel carried by the blast wave.
This is the second in a series of articles focused on best practices for burn care.
Development of this article began in December 2012. In the immediate aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, additional lessons will emerge to be applied to the science of managing these types of incidents. We would like to acknowledge the actions of those who heard the call for help and responded quickly on April 15. It is obvious that extensive planning in the months and weeks before, staging of...
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