BOSS-2, the Burn Objective Scar Scale project 2, has recently opened and patients are being recruited by the trauma, burns and critical care delivery team that is partly supported by both the NIHR Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre (SRMRC) and The Scar Free Foundation (SFF) Centre for Conflict Wound Research (CfCWR). BOSS-2 is funded by the SFF and the Vocational Training Charitable Trust (VTCT) and the Chief Investigator is Professor Naiem Moiemen (Director of the CfCWR).

The study aims to validate a selection of tools identified in an earlier study, BOSS-1, which can objectively assess burn scars for characteristics like thickness, pliability and colour. These tools can then be used to measure how well healing develops following new treatments and therapies in upcoming trials.

BOSS-2 will recruit 60 burn patients over a year and then follow them up for 3, 12, 18 and 24 months. Healing time will be recorded and if the patient is co-enrolled with another study supported by the delivery team, SiFTi-2, samples such as skin biopsies and blood will also be taken.

The assessment of a scar following a burn is very subjective and varies based on experiences of both the patient and the clinician. Using a validated scar score, we will be able to more accurately assess the efficacy of future scar treatments.

Along with recruiting patients here at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, UHB, we are working to open the study at St Andrew’s Burn Centre, Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford and The Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery, Morriston Hospital, Swansea.