Functional Brain Changes Following Burn Injury: A Narrative Review.
Grant Rowe, Amira Allahham, Dale W Edgar and 4 others
PMID 38044625WHAT IT FOUND
Burn injuries cause measurable changes in brain function and plasticity, but treatments targeting these changes have not yet proven effective.
Evidence suggests that early intervention may help, but current clinical recommendations remain speculative and require further testing.
Key findings
01Burn survivors with chronic pain show structural and functional brain changes, including altered cerebral blood volume in pain-processing regions.
02Preliminary evidence suggests that reduced motor cortical plasticity capacity in burn survivors is associated with poorer functional outcomes.
03Non-invasive brain stimulation treatments like tDCS have not consistently improved pain or itch in burn survivors, with some studies showing no effect over sham.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
This is a narrative review, not a systematic review, so the selection of studies may be biased. Many of the cited studies have small sample sizes, particularly the TMS and EEG studies. There is significant heterogeneity in burn severity, time since injury, and assessment methods across the included studies. Most interventions reviewed are in early phases of research, with limited high-quality randomized controlled trials. Animal models are cited for mechanistic insights, but translation to human clinical practice is uncertain.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. Funding was provided by a National Health and Medical Research Ideas Grant and the Fiona Wood Foundation. One author was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award.
The easy way to misread this
Do not implement non-invasive brain stimulation (like tDCS) in your clinical practice based on this paper. The review explicitly states that current evidence is insufficient and that treatments targeting the brain have not yet proven effective for burn rehabilitation.