High Dose Intravenous Versus Low Dose Oral Vitamin C in Burn Care: Potential Protective Effects in the Severely Burned: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Burn injury is marked by a large release of inflammatory mediators which disrupt the normal capillary barrier and cause a rapid shift of intravascular fluid into interstitial spaces, ultimately leading to shock and death. As such, adequate fluid management and resuscitation is critical for burn patients to prevent further cellular injury. Technologies and medical options such as cardiac output monitoring along with early tube feeding and vitamin C administration have developed slowly over the years. Effective management of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome response and metabolic derangement is crucial for the survival of burn patients. In particular, vitamin C administration has shown to significantly decreases early post-burn lipid peroxidation, reduce microvascular leak of fluid by preventing endothelial dysfunction, and decreases edema formation in burned tissue.

Vitamin C is a cheap and widely available antioxidant which has been shown to significantly effective in positively impacting clinical outcomes in burn resuscitation. While vitamin C is a regular part of burn resuscitation, there is no consensus on the most effective dose when considering impacting mortality, fluid resuscitation requirement, and other various clinical outcomes. Defining clinically efficacious minimal dosage of vitamin C can assist surgeons to better guide care for patients requiring burn resuscitation.

In this study, we aim to evaluate the efficacy of vitamin C in burns greater than 20% total body surface area on various clinical outcomes through a retrospective chart review of burn patients. Through this retrospective chart review, we aim to arrive at a better-defined vitamin C dose to achieve positive clinically significant outcomes.