An Institutional Protocol for the Treatment of Severe Frostbite Injury—A 6-Year Retrospective Analysis
- 23 January 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Journal of Burn Care & Research
- Vol. 42 (4), 817-820
- https://doi.org/10.1093/jbcr/irab008
Abstract
The treatment of severe frostbite injury has undergone rapid development in the past 30 years with many different diagnostic and treatment options now available. However, there is currently no consensus on the best method for management of this disease process. At our institution, we have designed a protocol for severe frostbite injury that includes diagnosis, medical treatment, wound cares, therapy, and surgery. This study assess the efficacy of our treatment since its implementation six years ago. During this time, all patients with severe frostbite injury were included in prospective observational trial of the protocol. We found that this protocol results in significant tissue salvage with over 80.7% of previously ischemic tissue becoming viable and not requiring amputation. We also were able to improve our center’s efficiency over the course of six years and now our current average time from rapid rewarming to delivery of thrombolytics is under six hours.Keywords
This publication has 25 references indexed in Scilit:
- Use of Intra-arterial Thrombolytic Therapy for Acute Treatment of Frostbite in 62 Patients with Review of Thrombolytic Therapy in FrostbiteJournal of Burn Care & Research, 2016
- The Ischemic Threshold of the ExtremityPerspectives in Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy, 2011
- Cold-induced injury: frostbitePublished by Elsevier BV ,2007
- Frostbite: Pathogenesis and TreatmentThe Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, 2000
- Microcirculatory Studies of Frostbite InjuryAnnals of Plastic Surgery, 1998
- Effect of hypothermia on the coagulation cascadeCritical Care Medicine, 1992
- Analysis of microvascular changes in frostbite injuryJournal of Surgical Research, 1986
- Evaluation of hand frostbite blister fluid as a clue to pathogenesisThe Journal of Hand Surgery, 1981
- Experimental studies in cold injury: II. The pathogenesis of frostbiteJournal of Surgical Research, 1964
- STUDIES ON FROST-BITE WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO TREATMENT AND THE EFFECT ON MINUTE BLOOD VESSELSAmerican Journal of Physiology-Legacy Content, 1947