Blood gas studies in thermal burns.

In the present study we have included 25 cases with a relatively small extent of burns as compared to those described in many of the other published work. We have chosen the 3rd post-burn day as the day of reference (because most of the patients did not turn up before that day) from which day onwards adequate number of observations were available. Arterial blood gas studies revealed significant decrease in arterial partial pressure oxygen on 5th and 8th post-burn days with lowest mean value on 8th post burn day and then a gradual rise towards the normal value. Arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide fell after the burn to reach the lowest value on the 5th post burn day and then returned towards the normal value. Arterial hydrogen ion concentration also fell (i.e. arterial blood pH rise) in the post-burn course. This was significant on the 11th post burn day.