Lysine-vasopressin in excisional treatment of burns in pigs. Decreased blood loss and earlier circulatory recovery.

The hemodynamics were monitored during 24 hours in piglets anesthetized with Pentothal-N2O/O2, submitted to 33% full-thickness skin burn and resuscitated with 2.4 ml/kg/% burn of 100 mmol NaCl in 2.5% glucose. Three groups were studied: (I) standardized burn, (II) standardized burn and excision after 5 hours, (III) standardized burn, excision and lysine-vasopressin (LVP) given as intravenous infusion in a vasopressor dose. All groups showed similar decrease of cardiac output (CO), which was about 30% 4 hours after burn. In the two groups with burn excision, however, CO recovery was earlier than in the conservatively treated group I. The improvement was significant between group III and group I. LVP led to higher CO fraction and greater blood flow to hepatic artery, reduced flow to proximal gastrointestinal tract and skin and unchanged flow to heart, kidneys and other organs 24 hours after burn. The mean blood loss during and after burn excision was greatly reduced in group III (50 g/25 kg) compared with group II (146 g/25 kg). The therapeutic implications of LVP in excisional burn treatment are discussed.