Nasir Saleem, Jamshed Akhtar, Soofia Ahmed, Abdul Aziz.
Aetiology and Outcome of Paediatric Burns.
J Surg Pak Jan ;6(3):26-8.

Burns is a common injury in children with life long imprints on the personality as a result of its sequelae. A one-year study was conducted in the Burns Unit of Department of Paediatric Surgery, National Institute of Child Health, Karachi to find out the aetiology and outcome of paediatric burns in terms of mortality. Patients with burn injuries admitted From January to December 1999, were 198 (108 male and 90 female). Majority of these were between 2 - 5 years of age (n=85). In almost 62% of cases TBSA burnt was less than 30%. Scald burn was the commonest type of burn injury (n=112). Inflame burn more than 50% of cases had more than 30% TBSA involvement. In cases of scald burn the mode of injury in majority of cases was spillage of hot liquid (89/ 112). Majority of accidents occurred in home environment (n=178), kitchen being the most common place. Eighty patients received inadequate treatment at some other facility before being referred to us. Most of the patients (n=123) came to emergency room after 6 hours of accident. Pseudomonas was the commonest organism isolated (41%) followed by staph aureus. Complications occurred in signcant number of cases and infective complications predominated (n=82). Seventy deaths (35.3%) occurred in this series and most of them were in children under two years of age (20/52 - 38.2%). Mortality was slightly more in patients with flame burns (38/86) and those with more than 30% TBSA involvement (44/ 76, 57.8%). Preventive measures could have avoided these accidents. In this regard mass education can help in reducing the incidence. For proper management there is a need of establishing specialized burns unit at each district headquarter level.

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