The effect of surface swab culture plus burn wound biopsy culture on duration from culture to successful skin graft compared with burn wound biopsy culture alone : a randomized clinical trial

Abstract

The objective of this study are: 1. to compare the duration from culture to successful skin graft between burn patients whose treatment are guided by surface swab culture plus burn wound biopsy culture and patients whose treatment are guided by burn wound biopsy culture alone 2. to evaluate the accuracy of surface swab culture in the diagnosis of burn wound infection. Twenty nine patients with 20-70% burn randomly assigned to treatment group (surface swab culture plus burn wound biopsy culture) and control group (burn wound biopsy culture alone) when there were signs of burn wound infection . The general characteristis in control and treatment groups are not different [age:31.87 (25.07-38.67) and 30.93 (22.71-39.15), time before admission : 1.2 (0.671.73) and 2.11 (0.91-3.31), percentage of burn area:36.47 (28.37-44.53) and 34.50 (28.51-40.49)]. The mean duration from culture to successful skin graft are 21.47+/- 12.08 in control group and 13.78+/-5.70 in treatment group (p-value 0.040). For surface swab culture, the sensitivity was 80% and specificity was 85.71% The surface swab culture combined with burn wound biopsy culture can improve the duration from culture to successful skin graft when compared with burn wound biopsy culture alone. The surface swab culture can produce the acceptable sensitivity and specificity in diagnosis of burn wound infection too.