Managing pediatric burns: What proportion of patients undergo surgical treatment?

Burns constitute a significant cause of accidental injuries among young children worldwide. This study analyzed the details of burn injuries in children under 5 years old, drawing from a decade of data collected at a burn center in medical center in Taiwan. From 2014 to 2023, pediatric burn patients who were younger than 5 years old in Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital were included. The types of burn injuries, mean Total Body Surface Area (TBSA), duration of hospitalization, timing of operations, number of operations, nasogastric tube insertion, antibiotic selection and duration, and methods of wound dressing were reviewed retrospectively. A total of 483 pediatric burn patients, mean aged 2.0 ± 1.0 years old were admitted. The mean total body surface area (TBSA) of the burns was 8.4 ± 7.1 %. Most of our cases (77.2 %) were small burns less than 10 % TBSA. The most common cause of burn injury was scalds (450, 93.2 %). The mean hospital length of stay was 11.0 ± 6.0 days. 25.7 % of all patients received at least one operation and most of them (60.48 %) underwent only one operation, which was tangential debridement. The mean time to surgery was 7 days from the injury. Our study aimed to provide accurate information about the treatment for pediatric burn patients. We believe that our study can help healthcare practitioners discuss treatment plans with families by providing information on surgery rates, length of hospitalization, and other factors that families and patients may be concerned about.