The pathophysiologic changes demonstrated by a burn patient basically cover the entire spectrum of surgical critical care. Management of the particular disease state is based more on the principles of prevention rather than on the treatment of complications, as the latter are frequently fatal. Although extremely complex, most of the physiological, biochemical, metabolic and immunological changes leading to these complications are predictable with reasonable knowledge of the time course of burn injury and repair. The objective of this review was not to present a detailed treatment plan, but rather knowledge of the mechanism behind postburn pathology so as to allow one to predict and in turn prevent mortality and morbidity.
烧伤患者所表现出的病理生理变化基本上涵盖了外科重症监护的整个范围。特定疾病状态的管理更多地基于预防原则，而非并发症的治疗，因为后者往往是致命的。尽管极其复杂，但对于导致这些并发症的大多数生理、生化、代谢和免疫变化，凭借对烧伤损伤和修复时间进程的合理了解是可以预测的。本综述的目的不是提出详细的治疗方案，而是了解烧伤后病理背后的机制，以便能够预测并进而预防死亡率和发病率。
