Donor site wound protein synthesis correlates with length of acute hospitalization in severely burned children

Autografting of burn wounds results in generation of donor site wounds. Here we measured donor site wound protein fractional synthesis rate (FSR) in a burn pediatric population and showed that FSR increases over time postsurgery and correlates with the length of hospital stay (LOS) normalized for total body surface area (TBSA) burn size. 3.9 ± 1.1 days after the grafting surgery patients participated in a metabolic study consisting of continuous infusion of l-[ring-²H₅]-phenylalanine and donor site wound punch biopsies. Donor site wound protein FSR was 10.4 ± 7.5%/day. Wound FSR demonstrated linear correlation with the time postsurgery (p<0.05). Multiple regression analysis showed that LOS/TBSA correlated with donor site wound protein FSR and time postsurgery (p<0.001) and the following equation describes the relationship: estimated LOS/TBSA=(FSR-12.95-1.414 × postsurgery day)/(-17.8). This equation predicted that FSR corrected for the postsurgery day when the metabolic study was conducted accounted for 67% of the variability (r²=0.673) in the LOS/TBSA. Donor site wound protein FSR correlated to LOS/TBSA of burn patients admitted to the intensive care unit. Measurement of protein deposition in regenerating donor site wound using stable isotope technique provides a quantitative measure of wound healing.