Colonic Perforation in a Burn Injury

Colonic necrosis and perforation in burn patients were extremely rare and of high mortality. The authors will report a 77-year-old female suffered from a flame burn with an area of 16% of the total body surface complicated with sigmoid colonic perforation. Her past medical records included hypertension, atrial fibrillation, and mild senile dementia. She was sent to a medical center where she received the standard therapeutic procedure for burn injury. Unfortunately, she was accidentally found free air under the diaphragm via chest plain film. There was necrotic tissue with perforation in the sigmoid colon under urgent exploratory laparotomy. The patient was rescued finally after a long term medical care. When referring to the English literature from Medline, there was no report of burned patient complicated with sigmoid colon perforation. Hence, the authors would share their experience in this case by warning the serious abdominal complication cause by burn injury.