Fatalities from a Greek Burn Unit-A clinicopathological correlation of 129 cases.

INTRODUCTION: This is a retrospective study of the hospital data and autopsy reports of burn patients who died in the Burn Unit of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Microsurgery and Burn Center of "G. Gennimatas" Hospital of Athens, Greece during the period 1999-2005.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The records of the burn victims deceased during the period 1999-2005 were reviewed and the cause of injury, percentage of body surface area (BSA) burned, age, gender, and co-morbidities were documented. Moreover, the autopsy findings per system were recorded and compared to clinical reports to analyze any inconsistencies.

RESULTS: Between 1999 and 2005, 368 patients were hospitalized in the Burn Unit of "G. Gennimatas" Hospital of Athens, Greece. One-hundred and twenty-nine patients died. The first three causes of death in autopsy reports were: pneumonia (30 patients), myocardial infarction (17 cases) and multiple organ failure (15 patients). Three patients had class I diagnostic discrepancies, 5 patients had class II diagnostic discrepancies and minor diagnostic errors (class III and IV) were documented in 20 patients.

CONCLUSIONS: Although the percentage of discrepancies of premortem compared to postmortem diagnosis in this series of deceased burn patients is small (2.3%), we believe that it is sufficient to justify the performance of autopsies.