Swedish exchange aids burn centers

Even though he works at a national burn center back home, Johan Thorfinn was impressed by the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital.

"It's a big center," the Swedish burn surgeon said. "It has gained a lot of experience and good results. It's very interesting for us."

Dr. Thorfinn works in a 6- to 8-bed burn unit at Linköping University Hospital in Linköping, Sweden, that was recently named a national burn center.

He is part of an ongoing exchange with the 59-bed Augusta burn center to share ideas and techniques.

"We have had good results for the last 10 years," Dr. Thorfinn said.

The Augusta center sees about 3,000 patients a year and averages 50 to 65 inpatient burn cases a day, said Tanya Simpson, the hospital's assistant vice president for burn services.

The Swedish burn center averages four to six patients a day, she said.

"We cannot gain the same experience," Dr. Thorfinn said. "It affects everything."

There are some differences in the centers' treatments. For example, the Swedish center doesn't use cultured skin -- sheets of skin grown from a sample from the patient -- as readily as the Augusta burn center.

"With excellent results, I must say," Dr. Thorfinn said. "We tend to use it more on the cases where we don't succeed with anything else."

Working with burn center Medical Director Fred Mullins, Dr. Thorfinn was intrigued by the method of meshing skin grafts, using cuts in the skin to help expand it.

"You're able to stretch that, take one piece of skin and cover somebody's whole back," Dr. Mullins said.

"After what I've seen today, maybe that's the first thing we're going to try," Dr. Thorfinn said.

"It gives you a better base for your cultured skin," Dr. Mullins told him.

The Augusta center has also learned from the Swedes, Dr. Mullins said.

"Everybody uses a little different technique. That's what these units are for, is sharing our experiences," he said.

"We keep no secrets; we volunteer our data; we share our information with everybody," he said.

"So we hopefully help improve patient care throughout the U.S. and throughout the world."

Reach Tom Corwin at (706) 823-3213 or tom.corwin@augustachronicle.com.