Can early plasma treatment help severe burn patients survive their injuries?
That's the focus of a new study at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
Dr. Ariel Rodgers is part of that study.
Stu Osborne, WOSU: Can you tell us a little bit about the study and what is the overall goal?
Dr. Ariel Rodgers, OSU Wexner Medical Center: The PREEVEnT study is looking at whether or not our standard of care, which is we give people, patients who are more than 20% of burns, they get fluids versus giving them plasma earlier. I know some places do, some places, do give people plasma. However, we're just trying to see if it's going to help benefit them more versus just our standard care that we have at moment.
Stu Osborne, WOSU: Now this is kind of a controlled study, so you have some people receiving this plasma treatment and then some people are receiving the normal treatment. What is that treatment?
Dr. Ariel Rodgers, OSU Wexner Medical Center: The normal treatment is we give them a balanced fluid or crystalloid. We use something called lactated ringers. I know other people have heard of normal saline, but it's just a more balanced fluid. And we give that to them within the first 24 to 48 hours to make sure that the fluid stays, or at least we give the fluids that they need back from after the burn.
Stu Osborne, WOSU: This study utilizes what's called exception from informed consent. That means treatment would begin before officially getting permission from the patient or a family member. Do you fear there are any kind of legal risks that medical professionals could face by doing this sort of treatment?
Dr. Ariel Rodgers, OSU Wexner Medical Center: I think that we're getting the word out there and we're communicating with the public and most patients who do have burns that are over 20%, they are unable to consent for themselves and families usually not around. So I think we call it an emergency research. As long as we let the public know about it, I don't think that we have any other legal detriment to that.
Stu Osborne, WOSU: The study is supported in part by the Department of Defense, do you maybe see this technology being used on the battlefield, or what is their role in this study?
Dr. Ariel Rodgers, OSU Wexner Medical Center: They have a lot of burn research that we have learned from, as far as getting fluids. And I think we can use it on the battlefield. And pretty much we're just trying to see if we can using it in general public.
Stu Osborne, WOSU: How long will the study last and when will this data be available?
Dr. Ariel Rodgers, OSU Wexner Medical Center: We want to get at least over a multiple study, I mean, multiple centers, we wanted to get at least 750 patients between the ages of 18 and 75. And as soon as we get that number, that'll end. So I will probably say maybe like a year or so, but we'll just wait until we get that many patients. That's what their goal is.
You can sign up for the study by clicking this link.
