UMEM Educational Pearls

Category: Critical Care

Title: Life- or Limb-saving Escharotomy

Keywords: Escharotomy, burn, ischemia (PubMed Search)

Posted: 7/14/2007 by Mike Winters, MD (Emailed: 7/8/2007) (Updated: 3/29/2024)
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Life- or Limb-saving Escharotomy * At some point in your career you may have to perform an emergent escharotomy to safe a life or limb * Deep thickness circumferential chest burns act like a straight jacket and impair respiration * Circumferential limb burns act like a tourniquet and impairs both venous output and arterial input resulting in ischemia * Limb escharotomy should be performed as soon as pulses diminish - do not wait for them to disappear * The picture illustrates the incision lines for escharotomy (note the bold lines highlight the importance of going across any involved joint)

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