Skeletal suspension in the management of severe burns in children. A sixteen-year experience

From 1966 to 1983, skeletal suspension was used at the Shriners Burns Institute, Galveston, Texas, for the treatment of 626 burned pediatric patients who had 1128 affected extremities. Skeletal suspension was used for 863 acutely burned extremities (76.5 per cent) to facilitate skin-grafting and in 265 extremities (23.5 per cent) for functional positioning in the surgical correction of burn-acquired deformities. In a retrospective examination of these patients, there were fifty complications (4.4 per cent) related to the skeletal suspension, of which forty-five (4.0 per cent) were infections. All infections resolved with removal of the pins or the administration of antibiotics, or both. With this established low rate of complications, skeletal suspension continues to be a useful adjunct in the care of the severely burned pediatric patient.