EC Paediatrics

Introduction: Burn injuries or thermal trauma should not be considered as accidents, but a series of unfortunate events which is one of the most common traumatic injuries in children. Regardless of the etiology, these are complicated wounds that require a complex management and are associated with high mortality rates.

Clinical Case: Female newborn admitted to a second level hospital due to bowel obstruction. During her hospital stay she suffer a series of adverse events which ended up in a burn by direct fire when the light bulb used to warm her suddenly burst, twenty three percent of her TBSA was burnt.

Discussion: These adverse events increase their complexity by affecting a population group as susceptible as pediatrics, since their size, total body surface area, temperature regulation, skin thickness, metabolic rate, and psychological and developmental characteristics differ widely from their adult counterparts.

Conclusion: Our main goal is to emphasize the importance of preventing these unfortunate events in a multidisciplinary way, since an adequate hospital infrastructure in charge of the care of the newborn is required to have radiant heat cribs and functional incubators.

Keywords: Burns; Newborn; Fire; Poverty

1. Mobayen M., et al. “Parental adjustment after pediatric burn injury”. Burns (2022): 1520-1521.
2. Rice PL and Orgill DP. Assessment and classification of burn injury. UpTodate (2023).
3. Padalko A., et al. “Social Complexity and Risk for Pediatric Burn Injury: A Systematic Review”. Journal of Burn Care and Research (2019): 478-499.
4. Markiewicz-Gospodarek A., et al. “Burn Wound Healing: Clinical Complications, Medical Care, Treatment, and Dressing Types: The Current State of Knowledge for Clinical Practice”. International Journal of Enviroment Research and Public Health, (2022): 1-25.
5. Sistema de Información de la Secretaría de Salud. Dirección General de Información en Salud. Obtenido de Sistema de Información de la Secretaría de Salud (2022).
6. Potokar T., et al. “A comprehensive, integrated approach to quality improvement and capacity building in burn care and prevention in low and middle-income countries: An overview”. Burns (2020): 1756-1767.
7. Parbhoo A., et al. “Burn prevention programs for children in developing countries require urgent attention: A targeted literature review”. Burns (2010): 164-175.
8. Jeschke MG., et al. “Burn injury”. Nature Reviews Disease Primers (2020): 1-25.
9. Saaiq M., et al. “Neonatal burn injuries: an agony for the newborn as well as the burn care team”. Annals of Burns and Fire Disasters (2013): 175-181.
10. Palmieri TL. “Pediatric Burn Resuscitation”. Critical Care Clinics (2016): 547-560.
11. Murari A and Singh KN. “Lund and Browder chart-modified versus original: a comparative study”. Acute Critic Care (2019): 276-281.
12. Shah AR and Liao LF. “Pediatric Burn Care: Unique Considerations in Management”. Burn Care: Rescue, Resuscitation, and Resurfacing (2017): 603-610.
13. Partain KP., et al. “Pediatric burn care: new techniques and outcomes”. Current Opinion in Pediatrics (2020): 405-410.
14. Stewart S., et al. “Pediatric burn review”. Seminars in Pediatric Surgery (2022): 1055-8586.
15. Gauglitz GG and Williams FN. “Hypermetabolic response to moderate-to-severe burn injury and management”. UpTodate (2022).
16. Martínez Tovilla Y and Coral García MÁ. “Protocolos de ultrasonografía en una Unidad Pediátrica de Quemados”. Medicina Crítica (Colegio Mexicano de Medicina Crítica) (2019): 259-263.