PEDIATRICS Vol. 31 No. 2 February 1963, pp. 340-342
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Letters to the Editor

JACK METCOFF M.D.1

1 Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center, Chicago 16, Illinois

Dr. Chamberlain is an experienced pediatric surgeon with an extensive practical knowledge of surgical treatment in children. In his commentary on my Commentary on Burn Therapy (Pediatrics, 29:861, 1962) he takes issue with a previous paper by my colleagues and myself (New Engl. J. Med., 265:101, 1961). In that paper each of the arguments was based upon data gained from direct observation and measurement, with the exception of the accumulation of edema fluid in the burned area.

While Dr. Chamberlain apparently does not like the words "some theoretical estimates" to assess the quantity of edema fluid, even the "theoretical estimate" was based upon the measured skin water content in normal children, as well as that in experimental animals, with the calculated differences based upon the relative accumulation of fluid in the skin and subcutaneous area during frank edema (Pediatrics, 20:105, 1957) as well as the specific accumulation of fluid in tissues burned to varying degrees and by flame and scald techniques in experimental animals (Fox & Lasker: Surg. Gynec. Abst., 112:274, 1961; Fox & Baer, Amer. J. Physiol., 151:1947).