TREATMENT OF PARTIAL THICKNESS BURNS OF THE HAND WITH THE PRESHAPED, SEMIPERMEABLE PROCEL BURN COVER - RESULTS OF A MULTICENTER STUDY IN THE BURN CENTERS OF BERLIN, DUISBURG AND MUNICH

The results of a prospective clinical study conducted in three. German burn centres are reported. The subject of the evaluation was to show the effectiveness of a new, preshaped, semipemreable burn dressing tha t is resistant to fluids and bacteria but highly permeable to vapour. The dressing was used in conjunction with 1 per cent silver sulphadiaz ine cream in treating partial thickness bums of the hand. In 49 patien ts, 72 partial thickness burned hands were treated. The application pr oved to be very easy. The time for ct dressing change was short (5-10 min). The duration of treatment was 13 days on average. Complications due to infections did not occur. Because of the semipermeable properti es of the dressing material, skin macerations occurred in only a few i nstances (13 per cent) as a result of inappropriate cream application or extremely high exudation rates, and these did not adversely affect the healing process. Patients achieved the ability to perform activiti es of daily living early with positive results for the patients, the p hysician and the nursing team.