Introduction: In the last decade, hydrosurgery has become accepted as a new option for tangential excision in burn surgery. The Versajet™ hydrosurgery system is thought to be a more precise and controlled manner for burn debridement prior to skin grafting. However, burn specialists decide individually whether hydrosurgery should be applied in a specific patient or not. The aim of this study was to gain insight in which patients hydrosurgery is used in specialized burn care in the Netherlands.
Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in all patients admitted to a Dutch burn centre between 2009 and 2016. All patients with burns that required surgical debridement were included. Data were collected using the national Dutch Burn Repository R3. 
Results: Data of 2113 eligible patients were assessed. These patients were treated with hydrosurgical debridement (23.9%), conventional debridement (47.7%) or a combination of these techniques (28.3%). Independent predictors for the use of hydrosurgery were mainly burn related and consisted of a younger age, scalds, a larger percentage of total body surface area (TBSA) burned, head and neck burns and arm burns.

Conclusion: The use of hydrosurgery for burn wound debridement prior to skin grafting is substantial. Randomized studies addressing scar quality are needed to open new perspectives on the potential benefits of hydrosurgical burn wound debridement.

Evaluation of hydrosurgery in burn care Which patients benefit most?