Hydrofluoric Acid Dermal Burns: An Assessment of Treatment Efficacy Using an Experimental Pig Model

There currently exist various opinions concerning the best therapy for managing hydrogen fluoride (HF) dermal burns. Previously reported animal studies designed to evaluate the efficacy of certain therapies are not completely convincing. Studies initially were conducted to develop a reliable animal model for assessing efficacy of treatment. Evaluation of several animal species, dosing regimens (HF concentrations, exposure periods), and application techniques showed that the most consistent and reproducible dermal lesions were produced with 38% HF applied to the skin of anesthetized pigs for exposures of 9, 12, or 15 minutes using Hill Top Chamber® patches. Using this model, the efficacy of six clinically applicable treatments was assessed by subjectively scoring and statistically analyzing photographic and histopathological data obtained from treated and untreated control lesions. Photographic data analysis ranked treatments with respect to effectiveness as follows: iced Zephir an and 10% calcium acetate soaks—highly effective; 2.5% calcium gluconate gel, 5.0% calcium gluconate injection and iced Hyamine soaks—effective; 10% calcium gluconate injection—ineffective. Histopathological data analysis showed the topical treatments (2.5% calcium gluconate gel, iced Hyamine, or iced Zephiran soaks) to be most effective in reducing superficial epidermal damage, and the 5% calcium gluconate injection or 10% calcium acetate soaks to be beneficial to deeper tissues of the dermis and subdermis. Injection of 10% calcium gluconate was ineffective. This study suggests that the anesthetized pig model has good applicability for assessing efficacy of HF dermal burn therapies. In addition, it indicates that further experimentation with 10% calcium acetate soaks is warranted.