Cold atmospheric plasma in burn treatment: A review of experimental evidence and future clinical translatability

Burn wounds are complex injuries with many barriers to healing, with high inflammation, dysregulated tissue repair, and high susceptibility to infection. Current treatments may fail to overcome these challenges, and patients frequently experience poor outcomes and severe scarring. A new treatment, cold atmospheric plasma, is being developed to combine both infection control and healing stimulation without the use of antibiotics, which are themselves being used sparingly to reduce the emergence of resistance. Plasma is a multifaceted agent and contributes a range of reactive species to interact with many critical pathways in the healing process. This review will discuss the aspects of healing and infection which are influenced by plasma, and will assess the current knowledge base in terms of translatability to eventual clinical use for burn management.