Debridement of burn wounds with a surgical ultrasonic aspirator

Ultrasonic ablation of tissue by the surgical ultrasonic aspirator (SUA) is an established technique in neurosurgery and hepatobiliary surgery. We report the first use of SUA in the debridement of burn wound in three patients. Our initial experience suggested that SUA allows meticulous wound debridement and cleansing with minimal bleeding and destruction of normal tissue and, therefore, is an extremely useful surgical instrument to add to the armamentarium of the burn surgeon.