Assessment of burn depth: a prospective, blinded comparison of laser Doppler imaging and videomicroscopy.

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: There is a need, both in clinical and research settings, for an affordable, objective method of assessing burn depth. This study compares burn depth assessment by videomicroscopy with laser Doppler imaging (LDI) in patients with dermal burns. The videomicroscope is inexpensive compared to LDI, and can visualise the dermal capillary structure, therefore potentially allowing objective assessment of dermal burn injuries.
METHODS: Patients admitted <72 h post-injury were included in the trial. Blinded LDI and videomicroscopy assessments were carried out. The patients were then followed up to one of three end-points: primary healing without surgery; early surgery; delayed healing and subsequent split skin grafting. The incidence of infection was also noted.
RESULTS: Twenty-seven burn wounds were examined. In superficial partial thickness injuries, the videomicroscope reliably demonstrated an intact or nearly intact dermal vascular structure, progressing through to large amounts of capillary destruction and haemoglobin deposition in deep partial thickness injuries and complete destruction in full thickness injuries. The videomicroscope findings correlated strongly with both those of the LDI (p<0.001) and with clinical outcome (p<0.001). DISCUSSION: The videomicroscope is capable of accurately and objectively assessing burn depth. The results correlated well with both the clinical outcome and the laser Doppler findings. In addition, videomicroscopy is significantly cheaper than LDI and avoids several of the disadvantages of LDI.