Acute management of thermal injury.

The United States leads industrialized nations in per capita fire deaths. The most recent U.S. statistics are from 1978. Two hundred thousand burn and inhalation injuries, 70,000 hospitalizations, and 12,000 deaths occurred that year [56]. Burn care has traditionally been the general surgeon's responsibility. However, the interest and commitment of plastic and reconstructive surgeons has increased considerably over the past fifteen years. During this time, major advancements have occurred in five areas: assessment, resuscitation, control of burn wound sepsis, wound closure, and burn team management.