Penetrating landmine injuries are the unavoidable consequences of military conflicts. They are potentially life-threatening. The mortality rates in the literature range from 23% to 92% and are considerably higher in patients admitted with poor neurologic state. Penetrating craniocerebral injuries require early surgical management designated to prevent infection and remove foreign objects, necro...

BACKGROUND The need for cardiopulmonary bypass in the treatment of penetrating heart injuries is debated. OBJECTIVES To review our experience with penetrating heart injuries and determine the indications and outcome for cardiopulmonary bypass. DESIGN Retrospective review. SETTING A university-based, level I trauma center. PATIENTS All victims of penetrating heart injury presenting betwe...

AIM This audit aims to gauge the safety and efficacy of iso-oncotic water-soluble contrast media as the sole imaging evaluation of the distal pharynx and cervical oesophagus after penetrating cervical trauma. METHODS A retrospective audit was performed over a 4-year period of all patients with penetrating cervical trauma to zones 1 and 2 of the neck who were subjected to imaging evaluation as...

OBJECTIVE To establish the pattern and results of interventions in patients with abdominal injuries requiring admission. DESIGN A descriptive, prospective, hospital-based study involving observation of patients from admission to final outcome of management as either discharged or deceased. SETTING Kenyatta National Hospital, a tertiary teaching and referral hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, from ...

We conducted a retrospective study of all paediatric ocular injuries that were treated at the Prince of Wales Hospital between October 1991 and January 1997. Of the 60 injuries reviewed, eight (13.3%) resulted in some degree of visual deficit. The mean age was 5.5 years and the average male to female ratio was 2.75:1. The distribution of injuries was as follows: contusions, 29 (48.3%); non-pene...

Cardiac impalement injury is rare and one of the most severe penetrating chest injuries, often fatal. The management of penetrating cardiac injuries is a challenging one. The success in management of impaling cardiac trauma requires stabilization of the impaling object, expeditious transfer to a facility for open heart surgery, rapid imaging, access to blood and blood products and a ready surgi...

conclusions anesthetic and surgical management was difficult due to the inability to position in supine and rapidly progressing hemorrhagic shock. surgical management for extraction of this iron bar and intensive monitoring and resuscitation resulted in an uneventful successful outcome. introduction penetrating thoracoabdominal injuries are potentially life threatening due to the associated hem...

We present a case of penetrating head injuries caused by blast fragmentation, along with other serious injuries (including to the arms, face and neck), where a good recovery was made despite an Injury Severity Score (ISS) of 75. We suggest that survival and outcome are reliant on several factors and cannot be predicted from ISS, velocity of penetrating injury or presenting Glasgow Coma Scale (G...

BACKGROUND Very few cases of severe penetrating injuries to the skull base with a seemingly innocuous object have been described in the literature. Of the cases reported, only ten involve a penetrating screwdriver. However, the choice of therapeutic management, whether it be emergency surgical or non-surgical removal of the penetrating object as well as the selected surgical approach remain qui...

Multiple injuries resulting from the use of nail guns have been described in the literature; however, to date there has been no report of a nail gun injury to the abdomen. We describe the case of a 30-year-old male tradesperson who suffered a penetrating nail gun injury to the epigastrium, resulting in multiple injuries to the bowel and an inferior vena caval injury with massive haemorrhage. Th...