MEDizzy
MEDizzy
USMLE
Combined Surgery
A patient sustained third degree burns on both his arms when his shirt caught on fire while he was lighting the backyard barbecue. The burned areas are dry, white, leathery, anaesthetic and circumferential around the arms and forearms which of the following parameters should be very closely monitored?
Explanation
ExplanationD. Circumferential burns of the extremities pose a distinct hazard to peripheral circulation because the edema fluid resulting from the burn cannot expand under the unyielding envelope of the burn eschar. compulsive monitoring of pulses and capillary filling is required; escharotomy also may be required. Although flame burns can cause smoke inhalation and the so called respiratory burn, they do so only when the victim is trapped in an enclosed space: a burning car, a plane, a building in those situations you would monitor blood gases and carboxyhemoglobin levels. Body weight does not change much with the massive internal fluid internal fluid shifts of a major burn. We guide our fluid therapy by urinary output and central venous pressure, not by monitoring body weight
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