Combined Burn Therapy Utilizing Immediate Skin Allografts and 0.5% AgNO3

DURING the last few years, the use of several topically applied antibacterial substances has been shown to provide an approach to satisfactory control of burn wound sepsis. Clinical experience has shown, however, that even with successful control of surface infection, the overall status of the extensively burned patient remains precarious until skin coverage is accomplished. It appears that the metabolic demands inherent in maintenance of homeostasis and in repair of damaged tissue, if carried on over a long period of time, may approach a magnitude with which the host cannot cope. Therefore, the rate at which the burn wound is closed is a primary factor in the overall treatment of the burned patient.

In order to avoid long periods of stress produced by a large open burn wound, a number of attempts have been made to produce a suitable synthetic material which would provide a temporary skin substitute. Clinical success