Hydrofluoric acid (HF) is one of the most common inorganic acids used widely in industrial circle. HF not only causes cutaneous burn, but also induces systemic toxicity by its unique injury mechanism. Accurate and timely diagnosis and treatment are critical after HF burns. To date, the strategies for treating HF burns have been developed, mainly including topical treatments and systematic support. However, there is no standard treatment strategy with wide acceptance in the world. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the advances in the research of strategies for the treatment of HF burns.
Burns, Chemical ; therapy ; Humans ; Hydrofluoric Acid

Objective: To analyze the literature published in Chinese Journal of Burns (now Chinese Journal of Burns and Wounds) in the last 22 years, and to explore the development trend of burn discipline. Methods: The relevant clinical and research literature published in Chinese Journal of Burns from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2021 were retrieved through China National Knowledge Infrastructure database. Bibliometrics was used to classify and analyze the literature by research types, involved research fields, and reported causes of injury, and compare them every 3 years according to the year of publication (with literature published in 2021 being included in the last time period). Keywords of all the literature were retrieved, which were corrected and conversed later. CiteSpace 6.1.R2 software was used to visually cluster the included keywords, count high-frequency and high-centrality keywords, and divide the high-frequency keywords by time as before for segment comparison. Results: A total of 4 485 relevant papers were included, with an average of about 204 papers each year. The research types analysis of literature showed that clinical diagnosis and treatment literature had the highest proportion, reaching 65.3% (2 929/4 485), followed by cell experiment and animal experiment literature, accounting for 18.1% (812/4 485) and 13.2% (591/4 485), respectively. The proportion of various research types of the literature in each time period was basically stable. The analysis of the research fields involved in the literature showed that the literature in the field of systemic treatment of burns accounted for the highest proportion, reaching 60.2% (2 699/4 485), followed by the literature in the fields of acute wounds and plastic surgery, accounting for 20.2% (908/4 485) and 7.3% (326/4 485), respectively. The proportion of the literature in the field of systemic treatment of burns decreased from 84.0% (430/512) in 2000-2002 to 40.3% (373/926) in 2018-2021, with a decreasing proportion of 43.7%. While compared with that in 2000-2002, the proportions of literature in the fields of acute wounds, plastic surgery, chronic wounds, and burn rehabilitation were on the rise, with the proportions in 2018-2021 increased by 11.7%, 9.1%, 10.7%, and 5.5%, respectively. In the first 6 time periods, the number of literature in the field of discipline management was few and remained in single digits, but it increased to 49 in 2018-2021. Among the 1 099 literature in the field of systemic treatment of burns with a clear cause of injury, the literature on thermal burns was the most, accounting for 58.5% (643/1 099), followed by the literature on electrical burns and chemical burns, accounting for 19.8% (218/1 099) and 12.6% (138/1 099), respectively. The comparison by time period showed that the proportion of literature reporting thermal burns showed a significant downward trend, while the proportion of literature reporting other causes of injury did not change significantly. A total of 6 822 keywords from 2 236 literature were included for analysis. Visual cluster analysis showed that relevant studies focused on burns, surgical flaps, scars, and wound healing. The top 3 keywords in frequency were burns, wound healing, and surgical flaps, and the top 3 keywords in centrality were burns, scars, and skin transplantation. The comparison by time period showed that the only keyword with a stable frequency in the top 10 ranks was burns; with the passage of time, some keywords such as endotoxin/endotoxins and fibroblasts gradually dropped out of the top 10 ranks, while keywords such as wounds and injuries, surgical flaps, and negative-pressure wound therapy gradually entered the top 10 ranks. Conclusions: Among the literature published in Chinese Journal of Burns during the last 22 years, the literature on systemic treatment of burns and thermal burns has gradually decreased, while the literature on chronic wounds and burn rehabilitation has increased. Surgical flaps, wound healing, and scar prevention and treatment are the current research hot spots in burn discipline.
Bibliometrics ; Burns, Chemical ; Burns, Electric/therapy* ; China ; Cicatrix ; Humans

Hydrofluoric acid is a highly dangerous and toxic inorganic acid, which is widely used in industrial fields and daily life. The risk of hydrofluoric acid burns is related to hydrofluoric acid mass fraction, duration of exposure to hydrofluoric acid, burn area, burn depth, and burn site, etc. Hydrofluoric acid has strong toxicity and tissue penetration ability. A small area of hydrofluoric acid burns can cause death in a short time. Therefore, improving the understanding of the mechanism of hydrofluoric acid burns and learning how to treat hydrofluoric acid burns in different sites can further improve the cure rate of hydrofluoric acid burns.
Burns, Chemical/therapy* ; Calcium Gluconate ; Humans ; Hydrofluoric Acid/adverse effects*

Ammonia is commonly used in industry and agriculture. It is also one of the most frequently accidentally spilled chemicals. Exposure to ammonia can cause severe cutaneous burn or freezing injury, ocular injury, and inhalation injury, among them inhalation injury is the most lethal one. Although the diagnosis and treatment of ammonia burns have been improved, the long-term prognosis is not satisfactory. In this article, we reviewed the literature concerning ammonia burns, in order to summarize the clinical features and treatment of such injury.
Ammonia ; adverse effects ; Burns, Chemical ; etiology ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Burns, Inhalation ; Humans ; Inhalation Exposure ; adverse effects ; Prognosis

Alkalies/therapeutic use* ; Burns, Chemical/drug therapy* ; Corneal Injuries/drug therapy* ; Eye Burns/drug therapy* ; Humans ; Taurine

Ingestion of corrosive substances can severely burn the upper digestive tract leading to bleeding or perforation, and may even be life-threatening. Less commonly, damage to the trachea and bronchi is involved. In this paper, a case of corrosive digestive tract injury and lung injury after oral administration of pipeline dredging agent (the main components are hydroxide, sodium carbonate, sodium hypochlorite, etc.) was analyzed. After active rescue treatment, the patient died of massive hemoptysis. It is suggested that serious complications may occur after ingestion of corrosive substances. Timely diagnosis and reasonable medical management are needed to improve the level of recognition and treatment of such diseases.
Humans ; Caustics ; Lung Injury/chemically induced* ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Burns, Chemical/therapy* ; Eating

Adolescent ; Adult ; Ammonia ; adverse effects ; Burns, Chemical ; etiology ; therapy ; Burns, Inhalation ; etiology ; therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult

UNLABELLEDTo investigate the clinical characteristics, prognosis, and complications of acute severe burn injury of the eyes.

METHODSOne hundred and thirty-five patients (155 eyes) with acute severe burn injury of the eyes admitted to our hospital from 1977 to 2002 were analyzed retrospectively. The recovery rate and time, causes and incidence of blindness, and complications of burn injury of different depth and causes of burns were analyzed statistically.

RESULTS(1) The recovery time of patients with full-thickness burn of the eye ball was obviously shorter than that with IV degree eye burn, and the recovery rate of those with III degree burn was also evidently higher than that with IV degree burns (P < 0.01). Among the patients with non-repaired IV degree eye burn, the incidence of corneal perforation (6 eyes) in patients injured by acid was markedly higher than that by alkali (1 eye, P < 0.05). There were 38 III degree injured eyes with the visual acuity more than 0.05 and 51 with that less than 0.05. While there was no eye with the visual acuity more than 0.05 but 66 with that less than 0.05. Fifty-two out of 78 eyes injured by acid and alkali went blind with occoecatio ratio of 66.7%. But 65 out of 77 eyes injured by heat went blind with occoecatio ratio of 84.4%. The complication in patients with III degree eye burn was lower than that with IV degree burns. The incidence of corneal perforation and symblepharon in patients with III degree eye burn was 1.1% and 36.0%, which was obviously lower than that with IV degree eye burn (27.3% and 59.1%, P < 0.01). The highest incidence of corneal perforation and symblepharon was in those with eye burn injured by acid (29.2%, 37.5%). While the highest incidence of the symblepharon in those with thermal eye burn was 53.2%.

CONCLUSIONAmong the patients with IV degree burns, those with acid, alkali and heat burns have bad prognosis, with high blindness rate. Current therapies cant improve eye function and prognosis of the patients thoroughly, which need further study in the future.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Blindness ; etiology ; Burns, Chemical ; complications ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Eye Burns ; complications ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Prognosis ; Recovery of Function ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVETo investigate the epidemiological factors in the first aid, early management, and treatment of chemical burns.

METHODSMedical records of 615 inpatients with chemical burns out of 2682 burn patients hospitalized from January 2001 to December 2010 were screened to retrospectively analyze the clinical data, including gender, age, burn area and depth, occurrence regularity, injury cause, injury-causing chemicals, wound site, complications, pre-hospital management, treatment and prognosis. Annual number of burn patients and annual number of patients with chemical burns were statistically analyzed with linear trend test.

RESULTS(1) Among all the chemical burn patients, 562 (91.4%) were male and 53 (8.6%) female. The mean age of patients was (32 ± 12) years. Burn area ranged from 1% to 95%, with mean area of (30 ± 25)% TBSA. Full-thickness burn area ranged from 0 to 85%, with mean area of (18 ± 24)% TBSA. (2) The annual number of burn patients showed a slow trend of increase during the last decade (χ(2) = 4.009, P < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the annual number of patients with chemical burns among the last decade (χ(2) = 0.060, P > 0.05). Chemical burns mainly occurred in summer and autumn, and the incidence gradually increased in April, peaked in August, and then gradually decreased. (3) Five hundred and seventy-two cases (93.0%) were injured while working, among these patients 70.8% (405/572) were injured in private enterprises. (4) Acid was the most common injury-causing chemical (299 patients, accounting for 48.6%). (5) The extremities and head were the most involved areas. (6) Among 615 patients with chemical burns, 47 cases (7.6%) were complicated by inhalation injury, 94 cases (15.3%) by ocular burns, 51 cases (8.3%) by combined injury, and 67 cases (10.9%) by poisoning. (7) Most patients did not receive (30.4%, 187/615) or only insufficient (61.1%, 376/615) immediate irrigation after injury in pre-hospital management. (8) Two hundred and twelve patients (34.5%) underwent skin grafting or flap transplantation after early total or tangential excision of eschar within one week post injury. Among all the patients, 599 cases were cured with 11 eyes becoming blind in 8 patients, and sixteen patients died with a mortality rate of 2.6%.

CONCLUSIONSPatients with chemical burns accounted for a high proportion of the burn patients admitted to our unit in the same period, and they were mainly injured while working. Sufficient irrigation and immediate detoxification are key points in the treatment of chemical burns. Early total or tangential excision of eschar of deep wounds could reduce the possibility of poisoning.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Burns, Chemical ; epidemiology ; therapy ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo explore the therapeutic processing and nursing for phenol burn patients combined with poisoning.

METHODSThe clinical data of 42 phenol burn cases admitted in our hospital from 1998 to 2010 were reviewed retrospectively. The general clinical manifestations, treatment and nursing methods, and the treatment results of these cases were analysed.

RESULTSOut of 42 phenol burns patients, the total burn surface area (TBSA) of 22 cases were ≤ 5%, 10 cases' TBSA were 6% ∼ 10%, and 5 cases' > 20%. 36 patients showed systemic poisoning symptoms 1 ∼ 2 hours after injury, the severity and enduring period of which correlated with TBSA. Patients whose TBSA > 10% appeared obviously dysfunction of the liver and kidney. The therapeutic methods included wound management, compensation of fluid, diuresis, alkalized urine, large dose of vitamin C and glucocorticoid, early surgery, blood purification, etc. 39 of 42 cases were successful cured, while the other 3 cases died.

CONCLUSIONSPhenol burn often complicates systemic poisoning. In the treatment of patients with this special chemical burn, it is key scheme to block phenol absorption and promote elimination of already absorbed poison as early as possible. The comprehensive management and nursing should be necessary for supporting functions of important organs.

Adult ; Aged ; Burns, Chemical ; nursing ; therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Phenol ; poisoning ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult