Increase of the cure rate of burn patients by improving burn wound management methods.

In order to summarize the progress of burn wound management of the patients in our burn ward and its correlation with the improvement of treatment results in the past 44 years, the general data (hospitalization time, cure rate, operation times) of 12,568 cases were analysed in terms of three periods, namely 1958 to 1980, 1981 to 1990, and 1991 to 2002. The bene?cial effects of the systemic application of recombinant human growth hormone, post-burn immediate escharectomy en masse, the external application of epithelial growth factor, and the coverage of split-thickness skin donor sites with razor-thick skin on wound healing and overall therapeutic results were also analysed. It was found that there was an increase in the number of burn patients admitted to our burn ward in recent decades. The overall cure rate, especially that of major burn patients, increased signi?cantly with the improvement of burn wound management. Hospitalization time was shortened and wound-healing time reduced. The analysis suggested that escharectomy en masse as early as possible, systemic application of growth hormone, and external application of epithelial growth factor are bene?cial to early burn wound healing.