Withdrawn study - This proposal was introduced in 2018 following the recommendations made by the KCE in its 2013 study on the organisation of aftercare for patients with severe burn injuries. This study highlighted the need for a consistent approach and multidisciplinary follow-up, which could be facilitated by the existence of good practice guidelines.
The potential room for improvement from current practice was further explored. As a reference point, we used the 2014 consensus-based guidelines of Monstrey et al, which are currently used routinely in clinical practice. We conducted a (limited) systematic search to identify reviews and good practice guidelines published since 2014, which returned 338 results.
It appears that a little more information has become available on laser therapy, massage therapy and botox, but our literature search still only yielded small randomised clinical trials with unclear results (weak or uncertain evidence). As far as guidelines are concerned, those we have identified are all consensus-based.
In 2018, the potential room for improvement was unclear. Based on our analysis, it is currently limited to a possible update of the Monstrey et al. guidelines (as well as a set of German guidelines, also consensus-based). In addition, we learned from interviews with several experts that clinicians are currently considering updating the Monstrey et al. recommendations based on the (limited) available evidence, supplemented by consensus.
For all these reasons, the added value of new KCE guidelines currently seems too limited. An update of the existing recommendations, as currently envisaged by stakeholders in the field, seems appropriate. We also recommend setting up randomised controlled trials within the BeNeFit initiative (a partnership between KCE Trials and its Dutch counterpart).
