Investigation of the "Surgical Cuts CO2 Laser Therapy Technique" to Treat Minor Burn Scar Contractures in Children.

Abstract

Fractional carbon dioxide (CO₂) laser therapy has been shown to improve scar contractures following burns. However, the benefits of using other CO₂ laser techniques to treat burn scar contractures are relatively unknown. This pilot study investigated a CO₂ laser technique in which a series of perpendicular "surgical cuts" were created along the contracture. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of using the "surgical cuts CO₂ laser technique" in pediatric patients. This study included 12 participants with minor hand burn scar contractures that received one CO₂ laser treatment using the surgical cuts technique. Trained assessors measured contractures pre- and post-laser therapy by assessing range of motion (ROM), digit length, and/or hand-span. All contractures were secondary to contact burns with the mean participant age equal to 5.5 years (SD 3.9). For all participants, at least one of the measured characteristics (ROM, hand-span, and digit length) improved after treatment. This pilot study demonstrated the benefit of using the surgical cuts CO₂ laser technique to treat minor burn scar contractures. Future investigations are needed to further evaluate its effectiveness in comparison to the fractional CO₂ laser therapy technique.