Management of burns in pregnant women.

Although few women sustain thermal injuries during pregnancy, when pregnancy is complicated by thermal injury a clear management scheme plus a team approach is needed to provide optimal care to both the fetus and mother. The clinical courses of 11 pregnant women treated at the Louisiana State University Medical Center after sustaining thermal injuries were reviewed and combined with 29 other instances from the literature. Fetal survival before 28 weeks of gestation appears to be dependent upon maternal survival. After 32 weeks of gestational age, fetal survival becomes increasingly independent of maternal survival if fetal distress can be minimized. Although in general, optimal care of the fetus coincides with the care of the mother, occasionally the medical needs of the mother and fetus are different. Therefore, we have developed maternal and fetal medical care schemes to serve as general guidelines for the care of the pregnant patients with burns.