Early excision and grafting versus delayed excision and grafting of deep thermal burns up to 40% total body surface area: a comparison of outcome.

This is a study of 120 patients of either sex and all ages who had sustained deep burns of up to 40% of the total body surface area. Half the patients underwent early excision and skin autografting (i.e., within 4-7 days of sustaining burn injury) while the rest underwent delayed excision and skin autografting (i.e., within 1-4 weeks post-burn). Significant differences were found in favour of the early excision and grafting group with regard to the various burn management outcome parameters taken into consideration, i.e. culture positivity of wounds, graft take, duration of post-graft hospitalization, and mortality.