Patients with acute burns treated at high-volume plastic surgery centers were more likely to undergo flap procedures and less likely to experience complications, according to research published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. David Perrault, MD, and colleagues examined acute burn encounters with known total body surface area (TBSA) from the National Inpatient Sample between 2012 and 2014. They determined plastic surgery volume per facility using procedure codes. Outcomes included odds of receiving a flap procedure, patient safety indicators, and mortality. In a sample of 99,510 burn admissions with a mean TBSA of 15.5%, the weighted median plastic surgery volume by facility was 245 cases per year. Compared with the lowest quartile, the top three quartiles of volume correlated with a higher likelihood of undergoing flap procedures (P<0.03). The top volume quartile was also tied to lower odds of patient safety indicator events (P<0.001). However, facility volume was not significantly associated with a difference in the likelihood of inpatient death.
