A Scoping Review of Fluorescence Imaging - A Promising New Technology for Bacterial Detection in Burn Wounds

Sep 29, 2026

Burn injuries cause devastating long-term outcomes, and infection remains the leading driver of morbidity and mortality despite progress in burn care. Timely, accurate identification of bacterial burden is essential, yet conventional diagnostics have important limitations. Fluorescence imaging is presented as a promising approach for enhancing bacterial detection and supporting infection management. The scoping review synthesizes current evidence and reports findings from PubMed searches and filtering to identify studies on diagnostic accuracy and clinical utility in burn care stages.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Burden and consequences of burn-related infections

Limitations of standard diagnostic approaches

Challenges in early diagnosis of infection and sepsis in burn patients

A Scoping Review of Fluorescence Imaging: A Promising New Technology for Bacterial Detection in Burn Wounds Steven L.A. Jeffery, BSc, MBChB, EBOPRAS, FRCS (Plast), FHEA1 , * and Erik Hanson-Viana, MD2 Abstract Burns are complex injuries with devastating long-term impacts. Despite advancements in burn care, infections remain the leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Early and accurate detection of bacterial burden is critical for effective intervention, yet traditional diagnostic methods have limitations. Fluorescence imaging has emerged as an effective tool to enhance bacterial detection and guide infection management in burn wound management. This scoping review summarizes current evidence on ﬂuorescence imaging-guided detection of bacterial loads in burn wounds and exploresits potential role across different stages of burn care. A comprehensive literature search was conducted in PubMed using the inclusion and exclusion terms (“ﬂuorescence” OR “autoﬂuorescence”) AND (“burn” OR “burns”) AND“imaging” AND “bacteria” NOT “microscopy.” This search yielded 30 publications, which were further ﬁltered to exclude preclinical studies, review articles, or articles that were not speciﬁc to burns. A total of 6 articles investigating the diagnostic accuracy of ﬂuorescence imaging (MolecuLight) in patients with burn injuries were identiﬁed. This evidence suggests that ﬂuorescence imaging improves the accuracy of bacterial detection in burns compared to clinical assessment alone, facilitating targeted wound sampling and debridement, enhancing antimicrobial stewardship, and guiding timely interventions. In addition, burn wound surgical planning may be optimized by ﬂuorescence imaging-guided identiﬁcation of areas requiring excision and grafting. Fluorescence imaging shows promise in enhancing bacterial detection in burn wounds, aiding clinical decision-making and infection management. However, further statistically powered studies are needed to evaluate its impact on patient with burn injury outcomes. Key words: burns; ﬂuorescence imaging; bacterial ﬂuorescence; infection. INTRODUCTION Burns are a severe and complex form of trauma that have long-term physiological impacts persisting well after the initial injury, imposing signiﬁcant socioeconomic burdens. Globally, an estimated 8.3 million new cases of burns requiring medical attention occurred in 2019 alone, altogether leading to 111000 deaths.1 In the United States, an estimated $4.1 billion was attributed to burn-related medical costs in 2020, 1 Wound Healing Practice Development Unit, Birmingham City University, Birmingham B4 7BD, United Kingdom; 2 Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Dr. Rubén Leñero General Hospital, México City 11340, Mexico Author contributions: Steven L. A. Jeffery (Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Visualization, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing [equal]), Erik Hanson-Viana (Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Visualization, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing [equal]) Funding: This work received no external funding. Conﬂict of interest statement: The authors declare no conﬂicts of interest. *Address correspondence to S.L.A.J. (email: [Steven.Jeffery@bcu.ac.uk](Steven.Jeffery@bcu.ac.uk)) © The Author(s) 2025 . Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Burn Association. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( [https://](https://)[ ](https://)[creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4.0/](creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4.0/)), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. [https://doi. org/10.1093/jbcr/iraf173](https://doi. org/10.1093/jbcr/iraf173) representing an increase of $3.1 billion over a decade and likely an underestimation of the true economic impact.2 Though advanc

FAQs

Why is early bacterial detection important in burn wounds?

Early and accurate detection helps guide effective intervention and reduces downstream complications. It is critical because infections drive morbidity and mortality in burn patients.

What limitations affect routine diagnosis of burn wound infections?

Standard surveillance often relies on classic signs and symptoms and microbial sampling, but reliability can be hindered by systemic physiological changes caused by burns. These changes can occur even without infection.

How does fluorescence imaging support bacterial detection and clinical decisions?

Evidence summarized in the review suggests fluorescence imaging improves detection accuracy compared with clinical assessment alone. It may facilitate targeted sampling, debridement, antimicrobial stewardship, and surgical planning by identifying areas needing excision and grafting.

Sep 29, 2026

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