The Management of Burns

Abstract

IN the United States, it is conservatively estimated that each year 2.5 million people seek medical care for burns. More than 100,000 patients are hospitalized with burns each year, and 12,000 burn victims die of their injuries.¹ The care of burn victims has progressed rapidly over the past 50 years. Before World War II, the average burn size associated with a 50 percent mortality rate in healthy young adults was less than 30 percent of the total body-surface area. Today, the mean burn size associated with a 50 percent mortality rate in most burn centers ranges from 65 to 75 . . .