BurnCase 3D software validation study: Burn size measurement accuracy and inter-rater reliability

Temporal trends in burn size estimation and the impact of the NSW Trauma App on estimation accuracy

BACKGROUND

Several studies demonstrated that burn size calculations by referring clinicians are poor. The purpose of this study was to determine if inaccuracies in burn size estimation have improved with time within the same population, and whether widespread roll-out of a smartphone-based TBSA calculator (in the form of the NSW Trauma App) had an impact on accuracy.

METHODS

A review of all burn-injured adult patients transferred to Burn Units from August 2015, following the roll out of the NSW Trauma App, to January 2021 was performed. The TBSA determined by the referring centre was compared with the TBSA calculated by the Burn Unit. This was compared to historical data from the same population between January 2009 and August 2013.

RESULTS

There were 767 adult burn-injured patients transferred to a Burn Unit between 2015 and 2021. The median overall TBSA was 7%. There were 290 patients (37.9%) who had equivalent TBSA calculations by the referring hospital and the Burn Unit. This was a significant improvement compared to the preceding time period (P < 0.005). Overestimation by the referring hospital occurred in 364 cases (47.5%), which was significantly reduced compared to 2009 - 2013 (P < 0.001). Unlike the earlier time period where changes in estimation accuracy were seen in relation to increasing time after the burn injury, burn size estimation accuracy remained relatively consistent in the contemporary time period with no significant change observed (P = 0.86).

CONCLUSIONS

This cumulative, longitudinal study of nearly 1500 adult burn-injured patients over 13 years demonstrates improvements in burn size estimation by referring clinicians over time. It is the largest cohort of patients analysed with respect to burn size estimation and is the first to demonstrate improvements in accuracy of TBSA in association with a smartphone-based app. Adopting this simple strategy into burn retrieval systems will augment early assessment of these injuries and improve outcomes.

Agreement of clinical assessment of burn size and burn depth between referring hospitals and burn centres: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

The quality of burn care is highly dependent on the initial assessment and care. The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the agreement of clinical assessment of burn depth and %TBSA between the referring units and the receiving burn centres.

METHODS

Included articles had to meet criteria defined in a PICO (patients, interventions, comparisons, outcomes). Relevant databases were searched using a predetermined search string (November 6th 2021). Data were extracted in a standardised fashion. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach for test accuracy was used to assess the certainty of evidence. The QUADAS-2 tool was used to assess the risk of bias of individual studies as 'high', 'low' or 'unclear'.

RESULTS

A total of 412 abstracts were retrieved and of these 28 studies with a total of 6461 patients were included, all reporting %TBSA and one burn depth. All studies were cross-sectional and most of them comprising retrospectively enrolled consecutive cohort. All studies showed a low agreement between %TBSA calculations made at referring units and at burn centres. Most studies directly comparing estimations of %TBSA at referring institutions and burn centers showed a proportion of overestimations of 50% or higher. The study of burn depth showed that 55% were equal to the estimates from the burn centre. Most studies had severe study limitations and the risk of imprecision was high. The overall certainty of evidence for accuracy of clinical estimations in referring centres is low (GRADE ⊕⊕ОО) for %TBSA and very low (GRADE ⊕ООО) for burn depth and resuscitation.

CONCLUSION

Overestimation of %TBSA at referring hospitals occurs very frequently. The overall certainty of evidence for accuracy of clinical estimations in referring centres is low for burn size and very low for burn depth. The findings suggest that the burn community has a significant challenge in educating and communicating better with our colleagues at referring institutions and that high-quality studies are needed.

EasyTBSA as a method for calculating total body surface area burned: a validation study

BACKGROUND

Current methods of burn estimation can lead to incorrect estimates of the total body surface area (TBSA) burned, especially among injured children. Inaccurate estimation of burn size can impact initial management, including unnecessary transfer to burn centres and fluid overload during resuscitation. To address these challenges, we developed a smartphone application (EasyTBSA) that calculates the TBSA of a burn using a body-part by body-part approach. The aims of this study were to assess the accuracy of the EasyTBSA application and compare its performance to three established methods of burn size estimation (Lund-Browder Chart, Rule of Nines and Rule of Palms).

METHODS

Twenty-four healthcare providers used each method to estimate burn sizes on moulaged manikins. The manikins represented different ages (infant, child and adult) with different TBSA burns (small <20%, medium 20%-49% and large >49%). We calculated the accuracy of each method as the difference between the user-estimated and actual TBSA. The true value of the complete body surface area of the manikins was obtained by three-dimensional scans. We used multivariable modelling to control for manikin size and method.

RESULTS

Among all age groups and burn sizes, the EasyTBSA application had the greatest accuracy for burn size estimation (-0.01%, SD 3.59%) followed by the Rule of Palms (3.92%, SD 10.71%), the Lund-Browder Chart (4.42%, SD 5.52%) and the Rule of Nines (5.05%, SD 6.87%).

CONCLUSIONS

The EasyTBSA application may improve the estimation of TBSA compared with existing methods.

Deep Learning-Assisted Burn Wound Diagnosis: Diagnostic Model Development Study

BACKGROUND

Accurate assessment of the percentage total body surface area (%TBSA) of burn wounds is crucial in the management of burn patients. The resuscitation fluid and nutritional needs of burn patients, their need for intensive unit care, and probability of mortality are all directly related to %TBSA. It is difficult to estimate a burn area of irregular shape by inspection. Many articles have reported discrepancies in estimating %TBSA by different doctors.

OBJECTIVE

We propose a method, based on deep learning, for burn wound detection, segmentation, and calculation of %TBSA on a pixel-to-pixel basis.

METHODS

A 2-step procedure was used to convert burn wound diagnosis into %TBSA. In the first step, images of burn wounds were collected from medical records and labeled by burn surgeons, and the data set was then input into 2 deep learning architectures, U-Net and Mask R-CNN, each configured with 2 different backbones, to segment the burn wounds. In the second step, we collected and labeled images of hands to create another data set, which was also input into U-Net and Mask R-CNN to segment the hands. The %TBSA of burn wounds was then calculated by comparing the pixels of mask areas on images of the burn wound and hand of the same patient according to the rule of hand, which states that one's hand accounts for 0.8% of TBSA.

RESULTS

A total of 2591 images of burn wounds were collected and labeled to form the burn wound data set. The data set was randomly split into training, validation, and testing sets in a ratio of 8:1:1. Four hundred images of volar hands were collected and labeled to form the hand data set, which was also split into 3 sets using the same method. For the images of burn wounds, Mask R-CNN with ResNet101 had the best segmentation result with a Dice coefficient (DC) of 0.9496, while U-Net with ResNet101 had a DC of 0.8545. For the hand images, U-Net and Mask R-CNN had similar performance with DC values of 0.9920 and 0.9910, respectively. Lastly, we conducted a test diagnosis in a burn patient. Mask R-CNN with ResNet101 had on average less deviation (0.115% TBSA) from the ground truth than burn surgeons.

CONCLUSIONS

This is one of the first studies to diagnose all depths of burn wounds and convert the segmentation results into %TBSA using different deep learning models. We aimed to assist medical staff in estimating burn size more accurately, thereby helping to provide precise care to burn victims.

Evaluating Discrepancies in Percent Total Body Surface Area Burn Assessments Between Prehospital Providers and Burn Center Physicians

Burns are routinely assessed at the scene of the incident by prehospital or emergency medical services providers. The initial management of burns is based on the calculation of the extent of the injury, reported as percent total body surface area. This study evaluates discrepancies in estimation of total body surface area (TBSA) between prehospital providers and burn team physicians over a 3-year period at an academic, university medical center serving as the regional burn center. A total of 120 adult and 27 pediatric patients (less than age 16 years) were included, with 95 (65%) male, 67 (45.6%) Caucasian, 62, median age 35 years (Interquartile Range 27). The most common etiology of burns was hot liquid, 39 (26.5%). Median [IQR] and mean (SD) estimated TBSA (%) were 4[1, 10] and 8.6 (12.8) for prehospital providers, and 2 [1, 6] and 5.9 (9.9) for burn team physicians. Bland-Altman plots evaluating 2nd and 3rd degree burns separately and combined demonstrated that, as burns involved more surface area, agreement decreased between emergency medical service providers and burn physicians. Agreement between pre-hospital providers and burn physicians decreased as total body surface areas of burns increased. This finding reaffirms the need for more standardized education and training for all medical personnel.

Predictive Modeling for Personalized Three-Dimensional Burn Injury Assessments

For patients with major burn injuries, an accurate burn size estimation is essential to plan appropriate treatment and minimize medical and surgical complications. However, current clinical methods for burn size estimation lack accuracy and reliability. To overcome these limitations, this paper proposes a 3D-based approach-with personalized 3D models from a limited set of anthropometric measurements-to accurately assess the percent TBSA affected by burns. First, a reliability and feasibility study of the anthropometric measuring process was performed to identify clinically relevant measurements. Second, a large representative stratified random sample was generated to output several anthropometric features required for predictive modeling. Machine-learning algorithms assessed the importance and the subsets of anthropometric measurements for predicting the BSA according to specific patient morphological features. Then, the accuracy of both the morphology and BSA of 3D models built from a limited set of measurements was evaluated using error metrics and maximum distances 3D color maps. Results highlighted the height and circumferences of the bust, neck, hips, and waist as the best predictors for BSA. 3D models built from three to four anthropometric measurements showed good accuracy and were geometrically close to gold standard 3D scans. Outcomes of this study aim to decrease medical and surgical complications by decreasing errors in percent TBSA assessments and, therefore, improving patient outcomes by personalizing care.

A pilot study comparing two burn wound stereophotogrammetry systems in a paediatric population

BACKGROUND

Stereophotogrammetry (SPG) provides a more objective measurement of burn wound area than traditional clinical assessments. The recently developed Intel® RealSense™ D415/Wound Measure SPG system has yet to undergo formal evaluation in a paediatric population.

METHODS

A pilot study comparing the Intel® RealSense™ D415/Wound Measure to the previously validated LifeVizII®/DermaPix® SPG system, for burn assessment was conducted at a tertiary paediatric burn centre. Both systems were used to photograph and analyse the same acute wounds for each patient. Three independent raters measured wound area and perimeter. Level of agreement between systems and raters was estimated by calculating the intra-class correlation coefficient.

RESULTS

Wound area measurements were completed in both systems for 25 burns from 13 patients (median age, 2 years). The participants were mainly female (n = 9), with a median TBSA-B of 9% (IQR 3-20%). There was strong agreement between the systems 0.757 (95% CI 0.521, 0.885, p < 0.001). Within each SPG system, there was excellent inter-rater reliability.

CONCLUSION

The Intel® RealSense™ D415/Wound Measure system may be a viable addition to the clinician's toolkit in the assessment of paediatric burn wound area. As with other SPG systems, there were significant challenges measuring wounds to highly contoured surfaces.

Technical and Medical Aspects of Burn Size Assessment and Documentation

In burn medicine, the percentage of the burned body surface area (TBSA-B) to the total body surface area (TBSA) is a crucial parameter to ensure adequate treatment and therapy. Inaccurate estimations of the burn extent can lead to wrong medical decisions resulting in considerable consequences for patients. These include, for instance, over-resuscitation, complications due to fluid aggregation from burn edema, or non-optimal distribution of patients. Due to the frequent inaccurate TBSA-B estimation in practice, objective methods allowing for precise assessments are required. Over time, various methods have been established whose development has been influenced by contemporary technical standards. This article provides an overview of the history of burn size estimation and describes existing methods with a critical view of their benefits and limitations. Traditional methods that are still of great practical relevance were developed from the middle of the 20th century. These include the "Lund Browder Chart", the "Rule of Nines", and the "Rule of Palms". These methods have in common that they assume specific values for different body parts' surface as a proportion of the TBSA. Due to the missing consideration of differences regarding sex, age, weight, height, and body shape, these methods have practical limitations. Due to intensive medical research, it has been possible to develop three-dimensional computer-based systems that consider patients' body characteristics and allow a very realistic burn size assessment. To ensure high-quality burn treatment, comprehensive documentation of the treatment process, and wound healing is essential. Although traditional paper-based documentation is still used in practice, it no longer meets modern requirements. Instead, adequate documentation is ensured by electronic documentation systems. An illustrative software already being used worldwide is "BurnCase 3D". It allows for an accurate burn size assessment and a complete medical documentation.

Does the estimation of burn extent at admission differ from the assessment at discharge?

INTRODUCTION

Estimation of total body surface area (TBSA) burnt and burn depth are among the most central parts of acute burn assessment/treatment as they determine the level and type of care needed. Traditional methods for determining burn extent on admission often lead to inaccurate estimations, especially in paediatric or overweight patients.

AIM

To compare %TBSA at admission with validated %TBSA at discharge in different patient populations to investigate if significant over- or underestimation occurs.

METHOD

This retrospective observational study is based on a patient registry of all the patients (n = 863) treated at the Uppsala University Hospital's Burn Centre between 2010 and 2018. The patients were divided into subgroups based on age, gender, body mass index (BMI) and validated burn extent. The %TBSA estimated at admission was compared to the validated %TBSA in all groups separately.

RESULTS

As has been published before, we also found that the %TBSA in paediatric patients was more often overestimated as were the smaller injuries, whereas larger injuries were often underestimated. BMI did not clearly affect the estimations and there was no clear difference between the genders in estimated %TBSA.

CONCLUSION

Inaccurate estimations of %TBSA are common, particularly for paediatric patients and small or large injuries. We recommend a careful accurate approach when calculating %TBSA in the paediatric population to avoid over- and under-resuscitation. Increased education and training are recommended to improve accurate estimation in the future.

LAY SUMMARY

The correct estimation of both extent and depth of burn is very important. This assessment guides the lever of care needed, the necessary amount of fluid resuscitation, the predicted outcome and more. It has been proven notably difficult to correct assess, especially the extent of a burn. Despite different tools as the "Rule of Nine" (body area divided into multiples of 9% body surfaces), the "Rule of Palm" (Patient's palm, fingers included, approximates 1% of body surfaces), the Lund & Browder chart (detailed, age-specific body areas) and different more technical solutions. Often inaccurate estimations are done which thus affect the treatment. This depth and extent estimation is usually performed when the patient is admitted. However, it is known that burns change appearance during the first few days of care. In our Burn Center we have also performed this estimation when the patient is discharged. At this point it is known the true extent and depth of the initial burn. In this retrospective observational study, we compared the burn extent estimated on admission with the one on discharge to investigate whether the initial assessment is accurate. This study highlights the issue of frequent inaccurate burn extent estimations, especially in subgroups as overweight patient or pediatric patients.

Changing the Way We Think About Burn Size Estimation

Burn size estimation is a crucial component of acute burn management that guides referral to burn centers, fluid resuscitation parameters, hospital resource distribution, and mortality-based interventions. Referring providers often misestimate the total BSA (TBSA) of burn injury, which contributes to unnecessary healthcare costs, misappropriation of limited resources, and delay in provision of appropriate patient care. A systematic literature review of articles available on PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, OvidSP Medline, and Web of Science was performed. All articles were evaluated in a standardized fashion by a panel of reviewers to assess applicability to the research question. Twenty-six relevant articles identified pervasive TBSA miscalculations ranging from 5% to 339% regardless of provider level with < 20% TBSA burns being disproportionately overestimated. This resulted in up to 77% of burns being inappropriately transferred to burn centers from referring hospitals. Improper use of TBSA estimation tools (palm, hand, Rule of 9s) without considering patient body mass index, race, age, and sex standards contributes to TBSA misestimation. Few studies with limited sample sizes argue that TBSA misestimations significantly affect fluid resuscitation volume, although the findings suggest that small burns (<20% TBSA) are over-estimated and over-resuscitated-the opposite of larger burns. TBSA misestimation is associated with an increased incidence of inappropriate transfers to burn centers and the associated costs. The data remains lacking, however, and larger studies are required to further elucidate the clinical impact of such errors. A systematic approach with telemedicine-facilitated computer-based burn assessments is required.

Burn injury

Burn injuries are under-appreciated injuries that are associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Burn injuries, particularly severe burns, are accompanied by an immune and inflammatory response, metabolic changes and distributive shock that can be challenging to manage and can lead to multiple organ failure. Of great importance is that the injury affects not only the physical health, but also the mental health and quality of life of the patient. Accordingly, patients with burn injury cannot be considered recovered when the wounds have healed; instead, burn injury leads to long-term profound alterations that must be addressed to optimize quality of life. Burn care providers are, therefore, faced with a plethora of challenges including acute and critical care management, long-term care and rehabilitation. The aim of this Primer is not only to give an overview and update about burn care, but also to raise awareness of the ongoing challenges and stigmata associated with burn injuries.

Wound area measurement with 3D transformation and smartphone images

BACKGROUND

Quantitative areas is of great measurement of wound significance in clinical trials, wound pathological analysis, and daily patient care. 2D methods cannot solve the problems caused by human body curvatures and different camera shooting angles. Our objective is to simply collect wound areas, accurately measure wound areas and overcome the shortcomings of 2D methods.

RESULTS

We propose a method with 3D transformation to measure wound area on a human body surface, which combines structure from motion (SFM), least squares conformal mapping (LSCM), and image segmentation. The method captures 2D images of wound, which is surrounded by adhesive tape scale next to it, by smartphone and implements 3D reconstruction from the images based on SFM. Then it uses LSCM to unwrap the UV map of the 3D model. In the end, it utilizes image segmentation by interactive method for wound extraction and measurement. Our system yields state-of-the-art results on a dataset of 118 wounds on 54 patients, and performs with an accuracy of 0.97. The Pearson correlation, standardized regression coefficient and adjusted R square of our method are 0.999, 0.895 and 0.998 respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

A smartphone is used to capture wound images, which lowers costs, lessens dependence on hardware, and avoids the risk of infection. The quantitative calculation of the 3D wound area is realized, solving the challenges that 2D methods cannot and achieving a good accuracy.

Changes in total body surface area and the distribution of skin surfaces in relation to body mass index

BACKGROUND

A correct estimation of total burn surface area is important since it is used for determining fluid resuscitation volumes, nutritional estimates and hospital admission criteria. Wallace's rule of nines is the most commonly used methods for this purpose. However, fat distribution is non-uniform and the total body surface area changes with obesity. The aim of this study was to determine if the rule of nines applies to all body mass index groups.

METHODS

A total of 217 individuals were included in the study. The patients were divided into 4 groups according to their BMI (18.5-25kg/m² (60 persons)), 25-29.9kg/m² (61 individuals)), 30-34.9kg/m² (55 persons)), >35kg/m² (41 persons)). Each patient underwent a complete duel-energy X-ray absorptiometry body scan to determine the surface area (cm²) of the various regions of the body.

RESULTS

We found no statistically significant variations between the Wallace body percentage distributions and our results in the men for all BMI ranges (head p=0.331, arms p=0.861, legs p=0.282, trunk p=0.696). In contrast, among women we found a statistically significant change in body surface area percentage distribution between the BMI groups and specific body regions (head p=0.000, legs p=0.000 and trunk p=0.001).

CONCLUSION

The Wallace rule of nines is a quick and acceptable method for estimating the total burn surface area percentage in men of all BMI ranges. However, for women, a more accurate method of burn area estimation is required as proposed by our BMI adjusted charts.

A comparison study of methods for estimation of a burn surface area: Lund and Browder, e-burn and Mersey Burns

INTRODUCTION

One of the greatest challenges in burn care is the estimation of a total burn surface area (TBSA). It is especially challenging and needs to take into account the growing proportions and the age of a paediatric patient. The aims of this study is to: (1) assess the reliability of the three modalities (LB, MB, and EB) in calculating the extent of burn injuries and fluid resuscitation, and (2) compare the features in terms of usability and efficacy.

METHODS

Participants were recruited from Women's and Children's Hospital (WCH), South Australia's surgical and emergency department. Participants were introduced to LB, MB and EB, and then commenced calculation of TBSA on two simulated paediatric (patient A: 12 months, patient B: 4 years) burns. The participants were categorized into three groups; (1) Burns-naïve, (2) Burns-experienced, and (3) Burns-expert.

RESULTS

A total of 45 participants took part in this validation study: doctors (49%), nurses (33%), nursing students (11%) and medical students (7%). The burns-naïve group demonstrated higher means in both patients and has greater variance, TBSA mean 28.8%, range 14-40.5% and mean 37.4%, range 20-52.3% in patient A and B respectively. Two-way ANOVA analysis shows a statistically significant interaction between the effects of level of experience and use of applications on estimation of TBSA in larger burns.

CONCLUSION

Innovative software and mobile applications demonstrate a high potential as clinical adjuncts in achieving better health outcomes in any health care system. Both Mersey Burns and e-burn reduced the risk of human error particularly from untrained or non-specialised clinicians, however, e-burn proved to be more favourable in our study. Technology-aided models are the future of burns assessment, and further studies are warranted to determine their impact on overall clinical outcome.

Three-dimensional imaging is a novel and reliable technique to measure total body surface area

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to explore the diverse clinimetric aspects of three-dimensional imaging measurements of TBSA in clinical practice compared with the methods currently used in clinical practice (i.e., the rule of nines and palm method) to measure TBSA in clinical practice.

METHOD

To assess reliability, two independent researchers measured the TBSAs of 48 burn patients using Artec MHT™ Scanner and software. Subsequently, a resident and burn specialist estimated the TBSA of the same wounds using the rule of nines and palm method.

RESULTS

Three-dimensional imaging showed excellent inter-observer reliability, with an intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.99, standard error of measurement (SEM) of 0.054, and limits of agreement (LoA) of ±0.15×the mean TBSA (between the measurements of two researchers). The inter-observer reliability of the methods used in current clinical practice was less reliable, with an ICC of 0.91, SEM of 0.300 and LoA of ±0.78×the mean TBSA. The inter-observer reliability was least reliable between three-dimensional imaging and the residents compared with the burn specialists for the estimated TBSA, with an ICC of 0.68, SEM of 0.69 and LoA of ±1.49×the mean TBSA.

CONCLUSION

The inter-observer reliability of three-dimensional imaging was superior compared with the rule of nines and palm method.

Toolbox for Research, or how to facilitate a central data management in small-scale research projects

Background

In most research projects budget, staff and IT infrastructures are limiting resources. Especially for small-scale registries and cohort studies professional IT support and commercial electronic data capture systems are too expensive. Consequently, these projects use simple local approaches (e.g. Excel) for data capture instead of a central data management including web-based data capture and proper research databases. This leads to manual processes to merge, analyze and, if possible, pseudonymize research data of different study sites.

Results

To support multi-site data capture, storage and analyses in small-scall research projects, corresponding requirements were analyzed within the MOSAIC project. Based on the identified requirements, the Toolbox for Research was developed as a flexible software solution for various research scenarios. Additionally, the Toolbox facilitates data integration of research data as well as metadata by performing necessary procedures automatically. Also, Toolbox modules allow the integration of device data. Moreover, separation of personally identifiable information and medical data by using only pseudonyms for storing medical data ensures the compliance to data protection regulations. This pseudonymized data can then be exported in SPSS format in order to enable scientists to prepare reports and analyses.

Conclusions

The Toolbox for Research was successfully piloted in the German Burn Registry in 2016 facilitating the documentation of 4350 burn cases at 54 study sites. The Toolbox for Research can be downloaded free of charge from the project website and automatically installed due to the use of Docker technology.

Three-dimensional wound mapping software compared to expert opinion in determining wound area

INTRODUCTION

New technologies in the field of burn wound and scar assessment are continually being evaluated. Accurate estimation of total body surface area (TBSA) burn wound is of paramount importance in fluid resuscitation to prevent complications which are associated with morbidity and mortality. Estimating the TBSA is performed by a multitude of different methods, however a gold standard would be ideal. The aim of this study was to compare the estimation of burned TBSA% between 3D photography by Panasonic FZ-M1 Toughpad in conjunction with WoundCare Lite software and expert opinion volunteered by burns doctors.

METHODS

Two life sized mannequins were used to simulate burns; an adult and a child. The burn was drawn to mimic real life burn patterns. Burns were measured prior to specialist assessment on the 3D camera. Burns doctors were asked to estimate the TBSA% of the burn. 10 burn sizes were assessed on the adult mannequin, and 8 on the child.

RESULTS

Wound size as estimated from the camera varied from 0.42% to 18.23%, with a mean of 5.246%. Each burn was assessed by a median of 3 assessors (ranging from 2 to 8). Burn TBSA assessments from the 3D camera and specialist assessment (compared using ICC) showed excellent agreement, 0.985 (95% CI 0.905, 0.996).

CONCLUSIONS

This study has demonstrated that the wound mapping software WoundCare Lite in conjunction with the Panasonic FZ-M1 Toughpad 3D camera compares well with expert opinion in determining burn surface area on a mannequin. Further research is needed to establish whether this is the case in burns on patients in an acute setting.

Comparison of two-dimensional methods versus three-dimensional scanning systems in the assessment of total body surface area estimation in burn patients

BACKGROUND

Accurate measurement of percent total body surface area (%TBSA) burn is crucial in the management of burn patients for calculating the estimated fluid resuscitation, determining the need to transfer to a specialized burn unit and probability of mortality. %TBSA can be estimated using many methods, all of which are relatively inaccurate. Three-dimensional (3D) systems have been developed to improve %TBSA calculation and consequently optimize clinical decision-making. The objective of this study was to compare the accuracy of percent total burn surface area calculation by conventional methods against novel 3D methods.

METHODS

This prospective cohort study included all acute burn patients admitted in 2016 who consented to participate. The staff burn surgeon determined the %TBSA using conventional methods. In parallel, a researcher determined 3D %TBSA using the BurnCase 3D program (RISC Software GmbH, Hagenberg, Austria). Demographic data and injury characteristics were also collected. Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was used to determine differences between each measure of %TBSA, with assessment of the influence of body mass index (BMI) and gender on accuracy.

RESULTS

Thirty-five patients were included in the study (6 female and 29 male). Average age was 47.5 years, with a median BMI of 26.6kg/m². %TBSA determined by BurnCase 3D program was statistically significantly different from conventional %TBSA assessment (p=0.007), with the %TBSA measured using Burn Case 3D being lower than the %TBSA determined using conventional means (Lund and Browder Diagram) by 1.3% (inter-quartile range -0.6% to 5.6%). BMI and gender did not have an impact on the estimation of the %TBSA.

CONCLUSION

The BurnCase 3D program underestimated %TBSA by 1.3%, as compared to conventional methods. Although statistically significant, this difference is not clinically significant as it has minimal impact on fluid resuscitation and on the decision to transfer a patient to a burn unit. 3D %TBSA evaluation systems are valid tools to estimate %TBSA, and should therefore be considered to improve %TBSA estimation at centers with no available experienced burn staff surgeon. Their use may ultimately prevent inappropriate transfers and allow for improved management of patients with acute burns.