Moor Instruments (Axminster, UK) have recently completed a multi-centre, International study of a new imager for assessing burn severity. The new moorLDLS-BI quickly maps blood flow in the burn wound and this helps burn surgeons to decide whether a burn needs to be treated with a skin graft or whether it will heal well, without an operation, using modern wound dressings and good burn care.

The clinical study of the new moorLDLS-BI burns imager involved burn centres at Dayton, Ohio, USA; Westmead, Sydney, Australia; Gent, Belgium and two burn Centres in Birmingham, UK. The new imager comes hot on the heels of the moorLDI2-BI which recently gained NICE recommendation. The new moorLDLS-BI was found to be equally accurate (95%) as an aid to predicting healing.

A great advantage of the new moorLDLS-BI imager is that it is fast, scanning areas of 20cm x 15cm in about 4 seconds which is fast enough to avoid the need for sedation in most infants during dressing change. Mobility is another great advantage of the moorLDLS-BI; battery power avoids trailing leads when used around the bedside; easy movement for use in out-patients can avoid the extra time and cost of ward admissions in many cases.

The moorLDLS-BI is now CE marked for use in Europe, an FDA submission for use in the USA will follow soon.