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Introduction Augmented renal clearance (ARC) has been reported to occur across many critical illnesses but has not been evaluated in critically ill burn patients. The impact of ARC on clinical outcomes within this population remains unknown. We hypothesize that ARC is prevalent in critically ill burn patients and is associated with improved survival. Methods We retrospectively reviewed a prospectively-maintained registry of Burn ICU patients from July 2021 – September 2022 at an academic burn center. We included patients in whom 24-hour urine creatinine collection was performed on admission and excluded patients in whom accurate collection was not performed within 48 hours of admission. Creatinine clearance was calculated for all patients who met inclusion criteria. ARC was determined to occur when creatine clearance exceeded 130 mL/min/1.73m2. Clinical outcomes were compared between patients with and without ARC. Results The analysis included 24 patients (67% male, median age 42 [31-55] years). The median percentage of total body surface area (TBSA) burned was 25 [10-38]. ARC was present in 17 patients (71%). Mean creatinine clearance was 162 ml/min/1.73m2 (range 37-313), and 7 patients (29%) had creatinine clearance greater than 200. Complication rates were low and were similar between patients with and without ARC (all p >0.05). Conclusions ARC appears to be a common phenomenon among critically injured burn patients. While the presence of ARC could be particularly meaningful in this population of patients that often receives massive volumes of resuscitative fluids, the sample size of our study did not permit the detection of statistically significant differences in outcomes between burn patients with and without ARC. Further work must be undertaken to assess the impact of ARC on fluid resuscitation strategies and medication dosing including that of antibiotics and thromboprophylaxis agents. Applicability of Research to Practice Augmented renal clearance (ARC) has never before been characterized in the population of critically injured burn patients. This topic merits further research, as it could have far-reaching clinical impact relating to fluid resuscitation practices and dosing of renally-cleared medications (antibiotics, thromboprophylaxis, etc.).

Introduction Burn patients are at high risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) as well as bleeding complications, thus choosing the best option for thromboprophylaxis can be challenging. Previous studies have analyzed the preferred antithrombotic agent in trauma patients, but this has not been established in burns. We hypothesize that low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) is associated with better outcomes than unfractionated heparin. Methods The Trauma Quality Improvement Project (TQIP) dataset was used to identify all patients with second- or third-degree burns that were administered VTE prophylaxis. Cases with missing data, < 24-hour hospital length of stay, other serious traumatic injuries (any AIS >3), interhospital transfer, history of kidney disease, or pre-hospital history of anticoagulant use were excluded. Bleeding complications were defined as hemorrhage control surgery, embolization procedures, or blood transfusion occurring after the initiation of thromboprophylaxis, consistent with other studies analyzing bleeding complications in TQIP. Rates of VTE and bleeding complications were compared between those who received heparin versus LMWH. Propensity score matching was performed to control for age, total body surface area percent (TBSA%) burned, and ICU admission (Table 1). Results The analysis included 9,857 patients (69% male). Median age was 50 (34-62) years. LWMH was associated with fewer complications including pulmonary embolism, any VTE, and bleeding (Table 2). Initiation of thromboprophylaxis within 24 hours of arrival was associated with a lower risk of VTE (1.0% vs 2.1%, p< 0.001) without showing a significant difference in bleeding complications (6.4% vs 7.2%, p=0.206). Conclusions This propensity score matched analysis of nearly ten thousand burn patients has demonstrated that low molecular weight heparin is associated with reduced risk of VTE and bleeding compared to heparin. Initiation of thromboprophylaxis within 24 hours is linked to lower rates of VTE. In burn patients without contraindications, thromboprophylaxis with LMWH should be started within 24 hours. Applicability of Research to Practice Venous thromboembolism is an important complication in burn patients, which may negatively impact patient outcomes. These patients regularly receive DVT prophylaxis and it is important for their care team to be able to select the proper agents.

Numerous studies have focused on the remarkable adhesive properties of polydopamine, which can bind to substrates with a wide range of surface energies, even under aqueous conditions. This behavior suggests that polydopamine may be an attractive option as a surface treatment in structural bonding applications, where good bond durability is required. Here, we assessed polydopamine as a surface treatment for bonding aluminum plates with an epoxy resin. A model epoxy adhesive consisting of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) and Jeffamine D230 polyetheramine was employed, and lap shear measurements (ASTM D1002 10) were made (i) under dry conditions to examine initial bond strength and (ii) after exposure to hot/wet (63 °C in water for 14 days) conditions to assess bond durability. Surprisingly, our results showed that polydopamine alone as a surface treatment provided no benefit beyond that obtained by exposing the substrates to an alkaline solution of tris buffer used for the deposition of polydopamine. This implies that polydopamine has a potential Achilles' heel, namely, the formation of a weak boundary layer that was identified using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of the fractured surfaces. In fact, for longer deposition times (2.5 and 18 h), the tris buffer-treated surface outperformed the polydopamine surface treatments, suggesting that tris buffer plays a unique role in improving adhesive performance even in the absence of polydopamine. We further showed that the use of polydopamine-3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) hybrid surface treatments provided significant improvements in bond durability at extended deposition times relative to both polydopamine and an untreated control.