All acutely burned patients admitted to one surgeon's practice during a 1-year period were considered for burn excision and grafting. Sex, age, burn size, number of operative procedures, and number of deaths were not significantly different statistically. The proportion of acute readmissions was not significantly different. The patients in the early excision group had a significantly shorter hospital stay for the first admission and for total length of stay for acute care, since if the length of stay for the first acute admission was added to the duration of hospitalization at any second acute admission, the early excision group again had a significantly shorter total length of stay.
Early excision is now a widely used and accepted method of managing burns.
The optimal time for such excision has not been definitely determined. The patients were divided into three groups. Those in the first group had no operative intervention. This group included patients who died shortly after admission and patients whose burns were sufficiently superficial that topical management without surgery was considered the appropriate treatment. Most patients fell into the second or early excision group, which included all surgical patients whose first operation was done within 24 hours of admission.