Multi-Specialty Care for Second-Degree Pressure Cooker Explosion Burn Injuries

CONTEXT: Although pressure cookers are very common kitchen utensils used in the United States, only a few cases of serious injuries secondary to pressure cooker explosions have been reported in the medical literature. When second-degree (i.e., “partial-thickness”) burns result from pressure cooker explosions, wounds involving near to or greater than 10% of total body surface area typically require multidisciplinary treatment, with burn center referral for proper wound care, potential fluid resuscitation, and eventual scar management. EXAMPLE CASE: The example patient described in this report was an African American female in her early 30s who presented during the summer of 2020 after suffering varying levels of second-degree burns to her bilateral upper torso and left wrist (i.e., approximately 10%, total body surface area). The authors first saw the patient during a primary care office visit a week after her initial injury when she first went to a local urgent care clinic. Upon her arrival to the second author’s family medicine clinic, a multi-specialty wound recovery plan was initiated since her first urgent care visit treatment had been minimal without prophylactic antibiotic therapy or placement of a burn center referral. CONCLUSIONS: Partial and full-thickness burn injuries generally warrant immediate clinical (i.e., body surface area burn assessment, fluid resuscitation, empiric antibiotics) as well as ongoing (burn center referral, debridement procedures, active scar management, provision of psychological support) treatment needs. This paper discusses the critical opportunities posed for more extensive burn patients’ physicians to first categorize the extent of burn wounds and initiate subsequent specialty care in other settings.