Severe pediatric burns, characterized by an extension greater than 10% of the total body surface or by the involvement of particular districts such as the hands, face, airways or genitals, are characterized by multisystem involvement, which often requires intensive care support.~The epidermis begins to develop from the superficial ectoderm at the end of the fourth week of gestation when the neural tube separates from the overlying ectoderm. Consequently, the ectoderm gives rise to both the nervous system and the epithelium.~In particular, the NERVE GROWTH FACTOR (NGF) is a neurotrophic factor that plays a fundamental protective role in the development and survival of neurons.~In fetal skin, NGF is synthesized in both the epithelium and mesenchyme, but the highest amounts of NGF messenger ribonucleic acid are found in the epithelium. There are currently no studies investigating the expression of NGF in severe burns.~The common embryonic origin of the skin and the neurological system may hold the key to new research opportunities to understand the regenerative response and in particular the role of growth factors such as NGF in the skin repair mechanism in severe burns .~The hypothesis of the study is based on the possibility that skin burns may be related to an increased expression of circulating NGF in the blood. However, there are no data in literature on this issue and the behavior of NGF in patients affected by burns is not known, either in adult or pediatric patients.~Aim To describe NGF values in severely burned pediatric patients and to evaluate their correlation with the severity of the burn and the extent of the burned skin surface by measuring the circulating levels of NGF.
The goal of this observational study is to determine the blood values of NGF in severely burned patients, to describe any changes over time and finally to correlate the expression of NGF to the severity of the burn.~The main question it aims to answer is:~- describe NGF values in severely burned pediatric patients and to evaluate their correlation with the severity of the burn and the extent of the burned skin surface by measuring the circulating levels of NGF in pediatric patients.~Participants will undergo blood sampling on days 2,7,14 and 30 after the traumatic event for the clinical follow-up envisaged by the internal protocol.