Burn injury: Challenges and advances in burn wound healing, infection, pain and scarring

Abstract

Severe burn injuries are the most traumatic and physically debilitating injuries affecting nearly every organ system and leading to significant morbidity and mortality. Early burn wound excision and skin grafting are common clinical practices that have significantly improved the outcomes for severe burn injured patients by reducing mortality rate and days of hospital stay. However, slow wound healing, infection, pain, and hypertrophic scarring continue to remain a major challenge in burn research and management. In the present article, we review and discuss issues in the current treatment of burn injuries; the advances and novel strategies developed in the past decade that have improved burn management; and also, pioneer ideas and studies in burn research which aims to enhance burn wound care with a focus on burn wound infection, pain management, treatments for scarring and skin tissue engineering.

Keywords: Burn pain management; Burn wound infections; Laser therapy for scarring; Negative pressure wound therapy; Scarring; Severe burn injuries; Skin tissue engineering; Stem cells.