Epilepsy as a Cause of Burns: Our experience in Ain Shams University Burn Unit.

Lack of patient education, unaffordable or inaccessible medications, especially in low- and middle-income countries such as Egypt, leave patients with epilepsy at a higher risk of suffering burn-related injuries especially with the unpredictable nature of seizures, which leads to accidental burns. We present this study to investigate all epileptic patients in which seizures were involved in the burn injury who presented to the Ain Shams University Burn Unit from January 2019 to July 2022, examining the epidemiology and outcome. 369 burn patients were admitted to out unit during the study period (1st of January 2019 to 31st of July 2022), 5 (1.35%) of which sustained the burn during an epileptic seizure. The parameters assessed were patient demographics, location where burn injury occurred, type and extent of burns, treatment and hospital stay, and morbidity/ mortality rates. Mean age was 24.6 years. 80% lived in low-income areas. Scalding was the most common cause followed by flame. The mean total body surface area and full thickness burned surface area were 16.2% and 8.6%, respectively. The mean hospital stay was 34.4 days. None of patients died. However, 1 case had to have an above elbow amputation.

Safety and efficacy of human amniotic membrane in primary pterygium surgery.

Grafts made from human amniotic membrane are used to prevent recurrence of pterygium after excision. The success of the procedure can be affected by the quality of preparation and preservation of the grafts. We prospectively evaluated the safety and efficacy of cryopreserved amniotic membrane prepared at the research tissue bank of the Biotechnology Research Center in Tripoli, Libya, and used as adjunct therapy in primary pterygium excision. Twenty-six patients (15 males and 11 females) aged 21-78 years and indicated for primary pterygium excision were transplanted at the Tripoli Eye Hospital with the amniotic membrane grafts. Sixteen patients (62 %) were available for all three follow-up visits scheduled at 1, 3 and 6 months post-surgery. By the third visit, two patients (12.5 %) developed granuloma and three (18.8 %) had pterygium recurrence. The grafts were used after cryopreservation for ≤180 days or >180 days, but statistical analysis showed that the complications were not associated with the length of storage. Moreover, the high rate of complications in this study was not caused by use of cryopreserved AM. In conclusion, locally produced cryopreserved AM is safe as an adjunct therapy for treatment of primary pterygium excision.