Elrouby, M., Abdelsalam, A. (2020). Epidemiological Study of Mass Casualties at A Tertiary Burn Center in Ain-Shams University: Management and Outcomes. The Egyptian Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 43(3), 365-369. doi: 10.21608/ejprs.2020.68150
Mohamed Elrouby; Ahmed Abdelsalam. "Epidemiological Study of Mass Casualties at A Tertiary Burn Center in Ain-Shams University: Management and Outcomes". The Egyptian Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 43, 3, 2020, 365-369. doi: 10.21608/ejprs.2020.68150
Elrouby, M., Abdelsalam, A. (2020). 'Epidemiological Study of Mass Casualties at A Tertiary Burn Center in Ain-Shams University: Management and Outcomes', The Egyptian Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 43(3), pp. 365-369. doi: 10.21608/ejprs.2020.68150
Elrouby, M., Abdelsalam, A. Epidemiological Study of Mass Casualties at A Tertiary Burn Center in Ain-Shams University: Management and Outcomes. The Egyptian Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 2020; 43(3): 365-369. doi: 10.21608/ejprs.2020.68150
Epidemiological Study of Mass Casualties at A Tertiary Burn Center in Ain-Shams University: Management and Outcomes
The Department of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt
Abstract
Purpose: To report, analyze different aspects of mass casualty incidents resulting from household fires due to explosion of gas cylinders presented to our Burn Unit from 2013 to 2017. Methods: Data of all burn mass casualty incidents from admitted to the Burn Emergency Unit of Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt; from January 2013 to December 2017 were collected from the Burn Unit and its Intensive Care Unit records, reviewed and described. Results: Six incidents from flame burn caused by household explosion of gas cylinders took place in the past 5 years. 33 victims were involved in the incidents and admitted to our unit; male: female ratio was 2.7:1. The ages of the admitted patients ranged from 2.6y-51y. The extent of burns ranged from 10-68% of TBSA affecting head and neck, torso and extremities. A total numbers of 44 operations were performed to all the patients during their stay in the form of emergency escharotomies in 12 patients and 32 sessions of excision of the deep partial and full thickness burns and split-thickness skin grafting in 19 patients. All patients survived and discharged uneventfully except only for 4 deaths (12%) with mean hospital stay duration of 30 days. Complications that developed in the admitted cases include wound infections (12.50%), hypertrophic scars (12.50%), altered skin color (8.33%) and psychotic manifestations (6.24%). Conclusion: Retrospective analysis of the therapeutic data of these cases demonstrates that management of mass burn causalities requires pre-designed disaster planning, well equipped center, trained personnel and these are the key elements in successful management.
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