Resuscitation from Burn Shock: Back to the Future

Numerous and, at times, widely different burn resuscitation formulae have been proposed over the past 70 years. This brief historical review of those formulae provides an understanding of how they were arrived at and how each was used as a foundation for the subsequent formulae. A glimpse into the future ends the article by concluding that fluids alone do not cure burn shock and cites early publications with a call to “shift the focus of burn resuscitation away from fluid intake to adequate endpoint monitoring, edema control and adjuvant therapies”.