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Perioperative Care of the Burned Patient

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Handbook of Burns Volume 1

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Abstract

Anesthesiologists often play a critical role in the initial stabilization of acute burn patients, as well as in the perioperative care of both acute and chronic burn injuries. Thus, they must understand the pathophysiological impact of large TBSA burns on each system and adjust their anesthetic management accordingly. Both pediatric and geriatric patients are at increased risk of burn injury and merit special attention to psychologic and comorbid medical conditions. Appropriate anesthetic and analgesic medication dosing will require consideration of the stage of burn injury in order to accommodate for changes in pharmacokinetics. Tolerance is also a frequent problem with severe burn injury, prompting the anesthesiologist to pursue alternative pain and sedation regimens, incorporating multimodal and regional analgesia techniques. Finally, anesthesia providers must be prepared to address the specific challenges to airway management and vascular access posed by severe burn injuries.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    American Burn Association: Burn incidence and treatment in the US: 2016 fact sheet. Available at: http://ameriburn.org/who-we-are/media/burn-incidence-fact-sheet/. Accessed June 14, 2017.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Jamie L. Sparling

  2. Clinical and Biochemical Pharmacology Laboratory, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Shriners Hospital for Children, Boston, MA, USA

    J. A. Jeevendra Martyn

  3. Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Shriners Hospital for Children, Boston, MA, USA

    Erik S. Shank

Authors
  1. Jamie L. Sparling
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  2. J. A. Jeevendra Martyn
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  3. Erik S. Shank
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. A. Jeevendra Martyn .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Ross Tilley Burn Centre Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Marc G. Jeschke

  2. Division of Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Lars-Peter Kamolz

  3. Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

    Folke Sjöberg

  4. Department of Surgery, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX, USA

    Steven E. Wolf

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Sparling, J.L., Martyn, J.A.J., Shank, E.S. (2020). Perioperative Care of the Burned Patient. In: Jeschke, M., Kamolz, LP., Sjöberg, F., Wolf, S. (eds) Handbook of Burns Volume 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18940-2_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18940-2_24

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