Obesity's Impact on Pediatric Scald Burns: How Much Weight Does It Carry?

Childhood obesity is a growing public health concern in the United States, yet its impact on wound healing and surgical outcomes in pediatric burn patients remains understudied. This study investigates the relationship between obesity and clinical outcomes in pediatric patients with scald burns. A retrospective review of 389 pediatric patients (aged 1 month to 18 years) admitted to a regional burn center with ≥5% TBSA scald burns from 2015 to 2024 was conducted.

Xeroform gauze versus silver sulfadiazine for mixed-depth pediatric scald injuries: A retrospective study.

Introduction: Silver sulfadiazine 1 % cream had historically been the mainstay initial treatment for scald wounds at our institution. However, we transitioned to using closed dressings of only petrolatum-impregnated 3 % bismuth tribromophenate gauze (Xeroform) for all partial-thickness burns. Xeroform adheres to the wound while allowing the exudates to drain and acts as a scaffold for re-epithelialization, after which it falls off without traumatizing the wound bed, theoretically allowing viable tissue to declare itself while requiring less frequent dressing changes.

Factors associated with an extended length of stay in the pediatric burn patient.

Background: The Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services predicts the length of stay for pediatric burn patients based on several variables. However, many patients exceed their anticipated length. This study looks to identify aspects of patient presentation, wound characteristics, treatment, and discharge that are associated with a longer-than-predicted length of stay to identify strategies to safely reduce it.

Weight-based vs body surface area-based fluid resuscitation predictions in pediatric burn patients.

Treatment for pediatric burns includes fluid resuscitation with formulas estimating fluid requirements based on weight and/or body surface area (BSA) with percent total body surface area burn (%TBSA burn). This study evaluates the risk of complications using weight-based resuscitation in children following burn injuries and compares fluid estimates with those that incorporate BSA. A retrospective review was conducted on 110 children admitted to an ABA-verified urban pediatric burn center over 12 years.

Outcomes of Early Surgical vs Nonsurgical Management of Pediatric Hand Friction Injuries Caused by Treadmills.

Pediatric hand friction injuries caused by running treadmills are ever more prevalent due to the increasing presence of home exercise equipment. These and other related injuries have received recent attention in the media, leading to mass product recalls in some cases. These friction injuries are similar to deep thermal burns, and these patients are usually cared for in the pediatric burn unit at our institution.

Sink bathing burns: A unique opportunity for an injury prevention initiative.

Sink-bathing is common practice among parents. However, this puts infants and young children at unrecognized risk for burn injuries. As the only verified pediatric burn center in a large urban area, we treat burn patients from a large variation in socioeconomic status.

Analysis of Electrocardiograms Associated with Pediatric Electrical Burns.

The purpose of this study was to examine the utility of electrocardiograms (EKGs) for low-risk, low-voltage pediatric electrical burn victims. A retrospective chart review was conducted on 86 pediatric patients who presented to the children's hospital between 2000 and 2015 after sustaining electrical burns. Variables included source and estimated voltage, extent of injuries, length of stay, high risk factors, and EKG results.

Operative indications in recurrent ileocolic intussusception.

Background: Air-contrast enema (ACE) is standard treatment for primary ileocolic intussusception. Management of recurrences is less clear. This study aimed to delineate appropriate therapy by quantifying the relationship between recurrence and need for bowel resection, pathologic lead points (PLP), and complication rates.

Pediatric postoperative intussusception in the minimally invasive surgery era: a 13-year, single center experience.

Background: Postoperative intussusception (POI) is a sporadic complication whose mechanisms and risk factors remain poorly understood. Its epidemiology in the minimally invasive surgery era has yet to be well described, particularly in children. We sought to examine risk factors, demographics, and anatomic patterns of pediatric POI in recent years.

The amniotic fluid as a source of neural stem cells in the setting of experimental neural tube defects.

We sought to determine whether neural stem cells (NSCs) can be isolated from the amniotic fluid in the setting of neural tube defects (NTDs), as a prerequisite for eventual autologous perinatal therapies. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley dams (n=62) were divided into experimental (n=42) and control (n=20) groups, depending on prenatal exposure to retinoic acid for the induction of fetal NTDs. Animals were killed before term for analysis (n=685 fetuses).

Craniofacial repair with fetal bone grafts engineered from amniotic mesenchymal stem cells.

Background: Ethically acceptable applications of fetal tissue engineering as a perinatal therapy can be expanded beyond life-threatening anomalies by amniotic fluid cell-based methods, in which cell procurement poses no additional risk to the mother. We sought to start to determine whether osseous grafts engineered from amniotic mesenchymal stem cells (aMSCs) could be an adjunct to craniofacial repair.

Methods: New Zealand rabbits (n = 12) underwent creation of a full-thickness diploic nasal bone defect.

Adrenal cortical tumors in children: factors associated with poor outcome.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate recurrence and survival outcomes in pediatric adrenal cortical neoplasms.

Methods: A 90-year retrospective review of children with adrenal cortical neoplasms was performed using multivariate Cox regression analysis to identify factors associated with recurrence and tumor-related mortality.

Results: The evaluable cohort included 29 patients.

Amniotic and placental mesenchymal stem cell isolation and culture.

The amniotic fluid and placenta are sources of diverse progenitor cell populations, including -mesenchymal, hematopoietic, trophoblastic, and possibly more primitive stem cells. Given that much of the amniotic cavity and placenta share a common origin, namely the inner cell mass of the morula, perhaps it is not surprising that most types of progenitor cells that can be isolated from these two sources also share many characteristics. This chapter focuses solely on the most abundant and easy to isolate progenitor cell population found therein, the mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).

Damage control operation for massive sacrococcygeal teratoma.

Surgical resections of massive sacrococcygeal teratomas (SCTs) carry significant risk due to baseline hemodynamic instability and the potential for significant hemorrhage. In this case report, a fetus with sacrococcygeal teratoma developed high-output cardiac instability at 32 weeks' gestation. After urgent cesarian delivery, a damage-control operation using Teflon-pledgeted mattress sutures allowed for hemodynamic control of bleeding into the tumor.

Familial case of prenatally diagnosed intralobar and extralobar sequestrations with cystadenomatoid change.

Hybrid lesions are part of a spectrum of rare pulmonary diseases that are characterized as having elements of both congenital pulmonary airway malformation and bronchopulmonary sequestration. Fetal thoracic masses arise from alterations during lung development that are separated by timing of the inciting event and are often associated with an underlying degree of bronchial atresia. There are a handful of documented reports of sequestrations occurring in siblings, but no known reports of prenatally diagnosed lesions occurring in families.

Serial amnioinfusions prevent fetal pulmonary hypoplasia in a large animal model of oligohydramnios.

Background/purpose: Severe neonatal pulmonary hypoplasia incurs mortality rates approaching 71% to 95%. We sought to determine the utility of serial amnioinfusions through a subcutaneously implanted intraamniotic catheter to prevent pulmonary hypoplasia in fetal obstructive uropathy.

Methods: Fetal lambs (n = 32) were divided into 3 groups.

Preclinical regulatory validation of an engineered diaphragmatic tendon made with amniotic mesenchymal stem cells.

Purpose: Under a Food and Drug Administration directive, we examined definite long-term safety and efficacy aspects of an engineered diaphragmatic tendon graft as a regulatory prerequisite for clinical trials.

Methods: Newborn lambs (N = 27) underwent partial diaphragmatic replacement with a Teflon patch, a composite acellular bioprosthesis, or the same bioprosthesis seeded with autologous amniotic mesenchymal stem cells processed under Good Manufacturing Practice guidelines. Multiple safety and efficacy analyses were performed at different time points up to 14 months of age (ovine adulthood).

Amniotic mesenchymal stem cells enhance normal fetal wound healing.

Fetal wound healing involves minimal inflammation and limited scarring. Its mechanisms, which remain to be fully elucidated, hold valuable clues for wound healing modulation and the development of regenerative strategies. We sought to determine whether fetal wound healing includes a hitherto unrecognized cellular component.

Chest wall repair with engineered fetal bone grafts: an efficacy analysis in an autologous leporine model.

Purpose: We sought to compare the efficacy of engineered fetal bone grafts with acellular constructs in an autologous model of chest wall repair.

Methods: Rabbits (n = 10) with a full-thickness sternal defect were equally divided in 2 groups based on how the defect was repaired, namely, either with an autologous bone construct engineered with amniotic mesenchymal stem cells on a nanofibrous scaffold or a size-matched identical scaffold with no cells. Animals were killed at comparable time-points 18 to 20 weeks postimplantation for multiple analyses.

A large animal model of the fetal tracheal stenosis/atresia spectrum.

Background: Treatment of congenital tracheal stenosis/atresia remains essentially unresolved. Previous models of this disease entity have been restricted to rodents and the chick. We sought to establish the principles of a large, surgical animal model of this spectrum of fetal anomalies.

Use of bilateral groin flaps in the closure of defects of the perineum: A case report.

Reconstruction of perineal and groin defects is a challenging problem. Commonly used methods of reconstruction include skin grafts and local flaps. The groin flap is a vascularized axial flap based on the superficial circumflex iliac artery arising from the femoral artery just below the inguinal ligament.

Soft tissue coverage of the knee joint following burns.

Full-thickness burns around the knee joint are usually associated with exposure of bone, tendon or ligaments. Following excision of the deep burns, there is no viable wound bed to which skin grafts can be applied. Although vacuum-assisted closure has been used to encourage granulation tissue, exposure of the tendons and ligaments following excision usually requires muscle flaps or fasciocutaneous flaps.