Burns – types and treatment
1. Big picture
Burns are surgical trauma wounds caused by thermal, chemical, electrical, radiation, or inhalational injury. The examiner usually wants you to answer three things clearly:
- How deep is the burn? → determines healing and grafting need.
- How much total body surface area is burned? → determines shock risk and fluid resuscitation.
- Is there an immediate life threat? → airway injury, inhalation injury, shock, circumferential eschar, electrical injury, associated trauma.
Burns are not only skin injuries. Major burns cause a systemic inflammatory response with capillary leak, edema, hypovolemia, hypothermia, infection risk, hypermetabolism, renal injury, and multiorgan failure. Large burns therefore need trauma-style resuscitation, burn center care, early wound coverage, nutrition, and rehabilitation. Burns are classified by depth and percentage of total body surface area (TBSA); large burns can cause hypovolemic shock, inhalation injury, infection, scarring, and contractures. ([Merck Manuals][1])
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