THE TREATMENT OF ASSOCIATED MAJOR TRAUMA IN BURN PATIENTS

Over a period of almost 6 years, 18 out of 320 burn patients treated i n the burn centre had sustained additional severe trauma; for the most part the trauma was due to a motor vehicle accident or a fall. The ri sk of overlooking such additional injuries can be minimized by systema tic examination and a team approach, the same as in normal multiple-tr auma patients. Apart from the burn, life-threatening complications suc h as intra-abdominal bleeding or haemopneumothoracic injuries are to b e treated immediately. In order to facilitate appropriate burn wound c are and optimize mobilization, early internal or external fixation of unstable orthopaedic injuries should be performed as soon as possible. In our experience, operations carried out within 48 h after the injur y have neither led to complications in wound healing nor to osteomyeli tis.