Report of the 12th Congress of European Burns Association (EBA), Budapest, Hungary, September 12–15, 2007

The regular biannual congress of the European Burns Association (EBA) took place in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, on September 12Đ15, 2007.

It was one of the biggest congresses in the history of EBA, with 551 participants from 52 countries. Among them were 15 participants from the Czech Republic.

The congress was supported by 32 exhibiting companies.

The co-operating local organizing body was the Hungarian Burns Association, Prof. István Juhász from Debrecen being the Congress President and Dr. Gábor Meszáros from Budapest the Chairman of the local organizing committee.

The prestigious Rudy Hermans- Lecture during the opening ceremony was given by Dr. Peter Shakespeare, from Salisbury, Great Britain. It was called “Hypertrophic Thoughts” and dealt mainly with the historical developments of different methods in burn care.

During the congress, eight invited keynote lectures and 187 free papers in 25 sessions (including 29 PAM Đ paramedical) were presented. One hundred and twenty posters have been displayed (inclusive 20 PAM).

The satellite symposium was organized by the company Smith+Nephew.

The following keynote lectures were the most significant and/or interesting:

Infection of the Burn Wound (Lars Steinstraesser, Bochum, Germany)

• Infection remains the leading cause of death among patients with severe burns
• Antibiotics and local antimicrobial drugs have enabled an increase of the invasive fungal infections
• Early surgical treatment remains the best known solution at present

Role of silver and other topical antimicrobials in controlling burn infection (Val Edwards-Jones, Manchester, Great Britain)

• Silver-containing topical antimicrobial agents effectively complement the action of systematically administered antibiotics which penetrate insufficiently to the wound surface
• There are big differences between these drugs, especially in how they release silver ions onto the wound surface

Recent progress in nutritional support (Mette Berger, Lausanne, Switzerland)

• The hyperalimentation popularized in the 1960s and 1970s has proven to be harmful
• Since the 1980s enteral feeding starting 24-72 hours post injury has become increasingly popular
• Recently, modern element of alimentation is the pharmaconutrition (glutamin, propranolol, oxandrolon)

New aspects in skin replacement (Oliver Rennekampf, Stuttgart, Germany)

• A comprehensive lecture dealing with the present possibilities of skin replacement
• Stem cells, keratinocyte stem cells, gene manipulated non-immunogenic keratinocytes and bone marrow-derived cells are the big hope for the generation of a complete skin-like substitute in the near future
• Nevertheless, there is no tissue-engineered skin substitute available at present

First facial transplantation: 22 months results

(Sylvie Testelin, France)

• Report on the first allografting of the face, performed in 2005 in France (composite facial soft tissue transplantation)
• Donor: 46-year-old, brain-dead woman after car accident
• Recipient: 38-year-old female patient with devastating dog bite injury of the lower face
• Transfer of the central and lower face (nose-lips-chin triangle)
• Description of the operating technique (revascularisation by a. and v. facialis)
• Reinervation by infraorbital and mental sensitive nerves, motoric by the sutures of branches of the facial nerve
• Marker flap localised in the inframammary fold
• Uneventful postoperative course
• Anatomical and psychosocial integration of the face transplant was excellent
• Immunosupression (prednisone, antithymocyte globulins, tacrolimus, mycophenolic acid) quite well tolerated
• The mimics of the face transplant after almost two years is good

The following sessions were interesting from the author’s point of view:

Session 5: New tools in burn care

• 9 lectures on 4 topics:

Versajet - hydrosurgery system as a tool for burn wound debridement

Vacuum assisted wound closure

Meek micrografting

Multispectral optical system for the measurement of the depth of burn wounds

Session 13: Skin Banking

• Quality management (Verbeken, Stella, Měřička)
• Sprayed cultured epithelial autografts for deep dermal burns of the face and neck (Hartmann)
• Acellular porcine dermis Đ its characterisation and use in burn medicine (Brychta, Matoušková)

In addition to the scientific programme, meetings of the EBA committees were also held.

The most important meeting was the General Assembly of the EBA members approving the decisions of the past Executive Committee, electing the new one and outlining the main tasks for the new Executive in the next future.

Agenda of the General Assembly held in Budapest during the 12^th European Burns Association biannual meeting, September 12–15, 2007:

Opening (P. Davenport)

Approval of Minutes from the General Assembly Meeting in Estoril, Portugal, September 2005 (F. Sjöberg)

Treasurer’s report (P. Brychta)

Secretary’s report (P. Brychta)

Biannual PAM and Burn Camp Committee report (J. O’Shaughnessy)

Organization of the EBA co-operation with the Dutch Burn Foundation (F. Sjöberg)

Initiation of work updating the bylaws of EBA (F. Sjöberg)

Changes to the Executive (P. Davenport)

Congress 2009 Đ Lausanne (M. Berger)

Venue congress 2011 (F. Sjöberg)

European Burn Treatment Guidelines (P. Brychta)

Closing of the meeting (P. Davenport)

New EBA Executive Committee elected for the period of 2007–2009:

Folke Sjöberg (Sweden): President

Pavel Brychta (Czech Republic): Vice-President

Gerard Beerthuizen (the Netherlands):

Secretary/treasurer

Jean-Philippe Fauville (Belgium):

Assoc. Secretary/treasurer

Angelica Almeida (Portugal): Member

Jacek Puchala (Poland): Member

Fabienne Braye (France): Member

Peter Vogt (Germany): Member

Istvan Juhasz (Hungary): Member

Most important events in EBA in the period 2005–2007:

The re-admission of the Italian Burns Society back into EBA

Agreement on long-term co-operation between the EBA and Dutch Burn Foundation

Contribution of EBA (EUR 5000) to the Burns Prevention Programme of WHO

Most important tasks of EBA Executive in the period 2007–2009:

Revision of the present EBA Constitution

Transfer of the official seat of EBA from Belgium to the Netherlands

Upgrading the European Burn Practice Guidelines

Future relation between EBAand Russia

Next Congresses of EBA approved by General Assembly:

2009 - Lausanne, Switzerland

2011 - Den Haag, the Netherlands - comeback after

30 years of EBA meetings

Conclusion

The 12^th Congress of the EBA was a successful continuation of the other congresses of the EBA of recent times, scientifically, socially - and economically as well.

Prof. Pavel Brychta, M.D., CSc.

E-mail: pbrychta@fnbrno.cz