ABSTRACT
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE At the onset of the twentieth century fl uid resuscitation was grossly inadequate and often too late to forestall acute renal failure; burn shock leading to death was the lot of the severely burned patient (1-4). For survivors, invasive burn wound sepsis laid in ambush in the second and third weeks making way only occasionally for demise from metabolic and nutritional exhaustion (1,4). “Burn disease” was defi ned as the most severe form of surgical trauma, characterized by high mortality, severe morbidity, lengthy hours of surgical salvage, and residual disfi gurement.
