gms | German Medical Science

26. Jahrestagung der deutschsprachigen Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Verbrennungsbehandlung (DAV 2008)

06.01. bis 09.01.2008, Engelberg

In vivo determination of superficial second degree burn injuries on histomorphological level by confocal-laser-scanning microscopy

Meeting Abstract

  • M. A. Altintas - Klinik für Plastische, Hand- und Wiederherstellungschirurgie, Zentrum für Schwerbrandverletzte, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover
  • K. Knobloch - Klinik für Plastische, Hand- und Wiederherstellungschirurgie, Zentrum für Schwerbrandverletzte, Medizinische Hochschule, Hannover
  • M. Guggenheim - Klinik für Plastische, Hand- und Wiederherstellungschirurgie, Zentrum für Schwerbrandverletzte, Medizinische Hochschule, Hannover
  • C. J. Zweifel - Klinik für Plastische, Hand- und Wiederherstellungschirurgie, Zentrum für Schwerbrandverletzte, Medizinische Hochschule, Hannover
  • K. Busch - Klinik für Plastische, Hand- und Wiederherstellungschirurgie, Zentrum für Schwerbrandverletzte, Medizinische Hochschule, Hannover
  • M. Spies - Klinik für Plastische, Hand- und Wiederherstellungschirurgie, Zentrum für Schwerbrandverletzte, Medizinische Hochschule, Hannover
  • P. M. Vogt - Klinik für Plastische, Hand- und Wiederherstellungschirurgie, Zentrum für Schwerbrandverletzte, Medizinische Hochschule, Hannover

DAV 2008. 26. Jahrestagung der deutschsprachigen Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Verbrennungsbehandlung. Engelberg, 06.-09.01.2008. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2008. Doc08dav71

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dav2008/08dav71.shtml

Published: June 30, 2008

© 2008 Altintas et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.


Outline

Text

Background: The determination of burn depth is based on a visual assessment and can be subjective. Confocal-laser-scanning microscopy (CLSM) provides a non-invasive alternative to diagnostic various types of skin lesions. The aim of this study was to examine the CLSM to the demarcation of superficial second degree burn injuries.

Methods: 38 burn wounds (n=38) in fourteen patients were divided in three groups from first-(group 1), superficial (group 2) to deep (group 3) second-burn injuries. CLSM was performed with the Vivascope 1500 (Lucid Inc, Rochester, New York; USA) 24 h after injury to investigate the burn site and a comparable unburned site. Following parameters were assessed: cell size of the granular layer (Agran), thickness of the basal layer (tbl), minimal thickness of the epidermis (Emin), number of perfused dermal papillae (ppI) per area.

Results: CLSM data showed in group 1 a significant increase of Agran and a higher increase of Emin as in group 2. The granular layer in group 2 and 3 showed destroyed. In group 1 tbl increase significantly in burn skin. In group 2 tbl measurements were not statistically significant; the basal layer showed partly and in group 3 completely destroyed. In first-degree burn ppI increase significantly, in group 2 ppI decrease, in group 3 dermal structures showed completely destroyed up to deep by 200 µm.

Conclusions: In vivo CLSM permitted as a sensitive tool to characterize and quantify histomorphological changes of the epidermis and papillary dermis in burn injuries. CLSM provides an estimate of burn wounds and could easily distinguish first-, superficial and deep second-burn wounds.