Metabolic response
There is a hypermetabolic response to a burn injury. The role of hypermetabolism has been postulated as a means of:
- liberating substrate reserves for repair
- raising core temperature to:
- increase the rate of wound healing
- reduce infection
Essentially, it is a stress response but it tends to be more intense and of longer duration than that associated with trauma or infection.
Due to increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system, both gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis are triggered. Cytokine production from the wound stimulates increased protein breakdown with loss of muscle bulk and a negative nitrogen balance.
In the long-term, a severe burn injury in youth can impair growth.
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