Total body surface area: Encyclopedia with 57,945 entries from biotech, medicine & life sciences.

Life Science Encyclopedia

Total body surface area

Total body surface area (TBSA) is an assessment measure of burns of the skin. The rule of nines is used to determine the total percentage of area burned for each major section of the body. In some cases, the burns may cover more than one body part, or may not fully cover such a part - in these cases, burns are measured by using the casualty's palm as a reference point for 1% of the body.

**Adults**
Anatomic structure	Surface area
Head and neck	9%
Anterior torso	18%
Posterior torso	18%
Each leg	18%
Each arm	9%
Genitalia/perineum	1%

**Children**
Anatomic structure	Surface area
Head and neck	18%
Anterior torso	18%
Posterior torso	18%
Each leg	14%
Each arm	9%
Genitalia/perineum	1%

References

St. John Ambulance (2000). First aid: First on the Scene: Activity Book, Chapter 19. ISBN 1-894070-20-8.

Category: Medical terms

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Total_body_surface_area". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.